Plastics - Environmental Effects

Environmental Effects

Further information: Marine debris and Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Plastics are durable and degrade very slowly; the chemical bonds that make plastic so durable make it equally resistant to natural processes of degradation. Since the 1950s, one billion tons of plastic have been discarded and may persist for hundreds or even thousands of years. Perhaps the biggest environmental threat from plastic comes from fragmented pieces of plastic called nurdles. In the 1960s these were observed in the guts of seabirds, and since then have been found in increasing concentration. In 2009, it was estimated that 10% of modern waste was plastics, although estimates vary according to region. Meanwhile, 50-80% of debris in marine areas is plastic.

Prior to the ban on the use of CFCs in extrusion of polystyrene (and general use, except in life-critical fire suppression systems; see Montreal Protocol), the production of polystyrene contributed to the depletion of the ozone layer; however, non-CFCs are currently used in the extrusion process.

Read more about this topic:  Plastics

Famous quotes containing the word effects:

    If I had any doubts at all about the justice of my dislike for Shakespeare, that doubt vanished completely. What a crude, immoral, vulgar, and senseless work Hamlet is. The whole thing is based on pagan vengeance; the only aim is to gather together as many effects as possible; there is no rhyme or reason about it.
    Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)