According to the news from the World Wide Web, the global recycling rate of plastic waste is extremely low. Only 10% of the 7 billion tons of garbage is recycled, 3,400 plastic bottles are discarded every second, and 8 million tons flow into the ocean every year. At present, the number of plastic fragments flowing into the ocean has reached 5 trillion, enough to circle the earth more than 400 times. Research shows that up to now, human beings have produced more than 96,543.8+billion tons of plastics, most of which are piled into landfills or thrown into the natural environment. At this rate, in 2050, there will be more than 654.38 billion tons of plastic waste on the earth, and the beautiful earth may eventually become a "plastic planet".
What is even more unacceptable is that garbage is eaten by seabirds, fish and other animals after it flows into the ocean. These animals didn't dissolve the plastic in their stomachs until they died.
It can be seen that the problem of plastic waste has become the primary public environmental problem that human beings must face!
Main hazards of plastic waste
The harm of plastic waste can be generally divided into two categories according to its harm forms:
One is visual pollution. Waste plastic packaging scattered in cities, tourist areas, water bodies and roads brings bad stimulation to people's vision, affects the overall aesthetic feeling of cities and scenic spots, destroys the cityscape, and then causes visual pollution.
The second is ecological environment pollution. Waste plastic packaging is difficult to degrade after entering the environment, resulting in long-term and deep-seated ecological and environmental problems. First of all, the mixing of waste plastic packaging materials into soil will affect the absorption of nutrients and water by crops, leading to crop yield reduction; Second, plastic packaging discarded on land or in water is swallowed by animals as food, leading to animal death; Thirdly, it is difficult to package and treat the waste plastics mixed with domestic garbage: landfill will occupy a lot of land for a long time, domestic garbage mixed with plastic is not suitable for composting, and it is difficult to recycle the classified waste plastics because it cannot guarantee the quality.
How to control plastic waste pollution?
Controlling plastic waste is a systematic project, which requires the joint efforts of all departments and industries and the active participation of the whole society and all citizens. At the same time, in view of the non-degradable and difficult recycling characteristics of plastic waste, comprehensive, scientific and effective measures must be taken to prevent and control the pollution of plastic waste from the source.
1, strengthen publicity and education, and cultivate public awareness of environmental protection. We should vigorously carry out publicity and education, raise people's awareness of the harm of plastic waste pollution, raise the environmental awareness of the whole society, and educate people to develop good hygiene habits. While strictly observing environmental protection laws and regulations, actively stop bad behaviors around you.
2. Take effective measures to manage the recycling of plastic waste. Strengthen the management of plastic waste in railway, water transport, civil aviation, tourism, restaurants, restaurants, retail and other departments that produce a large number of waste plastic packaging materials, and change the phenomenon of unattended, disorderly stacking and random disposal; Take compulsory measures to start with the recycling of waste plastic packaging (such as disposable foamed lunch boxes) and gradually improve the recycling rate of waste plastic packaging.
3. Improve laws and regulations and strengthen the legal supervision of plastic waste. Formulate and promulgate relevant national laws and regulations to control plastic waste pollution as soon as possible, and clarify the obligations and legal responsibilities of producers, sellers and consumers to recycle waste plastic packaging materials. Specific control measures and guiding policies should be formulated for the production, operation and consumption of plastic packaging materials, so as to control the production of waste plastic packaging materials that are not easy to recycle and encourage the improvement of the recycling rate of waste plastic packaging materials.
4. Formulate economic policies, establish a benign operation mechanism, and put an end to plastic waste. Use economic means to encourage and promote the "reduction, recycling and harmlessness" of waste plastic packaging materials, save and comprehensively utilize resources, prevent white pollution and protect the ecological environment.
5. Strengthen scientific research and develop green substitutes for plastic products. Strengthen the development and research of alternative packaging products, and strive to reduce the amount of waste plastic packaging. Technically, one is to use paper instead of plastic. The second is to use degradable plastics. If the substitute is made and discarded after reaching a certain service life, its chemical structure will change obviously under certain environmental conditions, resulting in partial performance loss and appearance change and degradation, which is harmless or less harmful to the natural environment. This at least solves the problem that plastics are not degradable.
Do you have any suggestions on the problem of plastic waste? Your comments are welcome.