The Un-Repairable Mistake

What do you think will happen when we bury a plastic bag for one day?

The answer is ...nothing will happen; it will be there as it is.

Okay...so what will happen when we bury it for 100 years?

Unfortunately ...the answer is the same !!!

In my opinion, inventing plastic was a huge mistake, because plastic polymers don't disintegrate at all. The major plastic manufacturers are always defending their industry through speeches and websites about "recycling". But the fact is; not all the plastic polymers are recyclable !!!

Please don't take my word for it, just move around your house and pick some of your plastic bags, boxes, cups, handles, plates, bottles, zippers, packaging material, USBs, CD covers, shampoo bottles, pluming tubes, waste disposal boxes, light switches, drawers, slippers, card holders, electric wiring, tablet boxes.....etc. and tell me are all of them recyclable ?

The other problem is that plastic polymers are not stable. In other words, plastic reacts in high temperatures; so if someone pours some hot drink in a plastic cup, the polymer will leach in the hot drink and that is carcinogenic (Cancer causing). If some of the manufacturers hear me say that about all types of plastic, they will argue with me that not all polymers are carcinogenic. However, the question is how would we know which polymer is in this cup, so we can decide whether or not to use it with hot drinks !?!

Currently, a lot of shops are now using paper bags instead of plastic bags, but still we have many other industries relying completely on plastics. That is why I actually see this approach as meaningless because at the end of the day, plastic bags are not the whole problem.

Plastic federation South Africa is a website that contains a lot of information about plastic and recycling. Have a look and tell us your opinion about this problem.

............

Image Credit: by Cjp24 via Wikimedia Commons.