A Dip into the Ocean of Plastic-The Plastic Story -EP 01

From July 01, 2022, India has banned the manufacture, sale and use of identified single-use plastic items. It was done as per the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.

The list of banned items includes - earbuds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene (Thermocol) for decoration, plastic plates, cups, glasses etc..

Background Story

Uganda, a country in East Africa, has the biggest and the freshest water body, Lake Victoria. It is on the path of destruction because of plastic pollution. Only 6 per cent of plastic waste is collected for recycling in Uganda.
• More than three-quarters of everything which Coca Cola sells in Uganda is in throwaway plastic bottles.
• According to the Panorama analysis of Coca Cola, 156 billion plastic bottles since 2018 have been burnt, littered or buried in landfill sites.
• Burning the garbage releases toxic gases and causes respiratory problems. Most of the tissues plastic burning is affecting are the lungs and the brain.
• The rates of lung cancer are rapidly increasing in Uganda.

Discovery and Its Stages

In search of a waterproofing substance in 1862 , Alexander Parkes introduced the world’s first-ever man-made plastic “Parkesine,”.

In 1907, Baekeland’s experiments with phenol and formaldehyde yielded the first fully synthetic plastic, which he named Bakelite.

In 1932, A British Company, Imperial Chemical Industries, was conducting an experiment to produce Plastic from Ethylene Gas, the most abundant by-product of Crude Oil and Natural Gas Industry.

The experiment failed. Instead, due to a leak of oxygen into the vessel, they found a white waxy substance in a reaction tube. Then named as Perspex, This was found to be a polymer of ethylene.

When did the Plastic Become a Problem

Post War period and Gloomy economy was looking for cheaper Alternative. Plastic began to replace the more expensive paper, glass and metal materials used in throwaway items, such as consumer packaging.
For example, let’s take example of Soft Drink Giant Coca Cola.

In the 1950s Coca Cola was using glass bottles, and customers used to get 2 cents back when they returned the bottle. Coca Cola used to collect bottles and reuse them.

A decent amount was spent by the company in the whole process of collecting the empty used bottle, bringing them back and washing them and filling them once again etc.

When Coca Cola started using single-use plastic bottles, they realised they could reduce the management cost to the municipalities. In the 1970s, the Coke advertisements promoted the benefits of plastic.

The story doesn’t end with PET Bottles. They may create environmental pollution. But what is creating health hazards ? Well Microplastic is far more dangerous to us.

Microplastics are fragments of any type of plastic less than 5 mm (0.20 in) in length, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Now, to Know -How does it end up in our Blood Samples and The way we may tackle this 21st Century issue ?
Please wait for our EPISODE -02 of this Plastic Story.

Credits

Music : Youtube Audio Library.

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