Plastics: Being Social than Nonsocial? 1
A MINIREVIEW 2
Gaurav Mudgal*, Gajendra Bahadur Singh 3
Department of Biotechnology, University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University, 4
Gharuan, Mohali, Punjab-140413. India. 5
Abstract: 7
For the attributes related to material cost, durability, light-weightiness, transportability, easy 8
amenability to structural remodeling for functional diversities of conventional materials, 9
plastics changed the world’s perspectives towards products and service, reaching all portions of 10
the globe, satisfying material requisites for us. Much of the plastic however is for single use, 11
and post use is discarded, which travels through waste retrieval chain ultimately reaching the 12
biggest garbage bin, our oceans. This leads to concern related to animal (including human) 13
health and in a glooal context may lead to multifold problems, such as contamination of fresh 14
and marine water, colonization of bacteria on seas and so on. The current initiatives throughout 15
the world are working towards reducing, recovering, recycling of plastic wastes. In this 16
minireview we entail the latest findings on how to achieve the above. 17
18
Keywords: Plastic, waster, mitigation, microplastic, energy, sand block 19
20
21
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Introduction 22
The biggest blunder that man has ever made on this planet, amongst many others, is the 23
invention of plastics. Our surroundings are full and fed up with them. In the race towards 24
finding alternatives to issues related to material cost, durability, light-weightiness, 25
transportability, easy amenability to structural remodeling for functional diversities of 26
conventional materials, that plastics have changed the world’s approach towards products and 27
services (Thompson, Swan, Moore, & Vom Saal, 2009). Be it any sector and any portion of the 28
globe, since their advent in 1900s and mass production by 1940s, plastics have found multiple 29
applications and have reached all portions of the globe satisfying our material requisites with 30
regard to one or all of above attributes (Andrady, 2011). In fact as a surprise (Fig 1), globally 31
around 400 million tones of plastic is produced every year (Geyer, Jambeck, & Law, 2017). 32
Being a byproduct of oil and gas fuel production from fossils, plastic extraction and the factories 33
that fabricate plastic products consume around 8% of the global fuel production (Derraik, 2002; 34
Rios, Moore, & Jones, 2007; Thompson et al., 2009). Around only 18% of global waste plastic is 35
recycled (Geyer et al., 2017). While the rest of the trash is just discarded off single use or after 36
routines when found losing usability. Much of the plastic waste comes from our daily plastic 37
dependent lifestyle habits such as use of use and throw cutlery, packaging material, carry bags, 38
cards, cosmetics, medical supplies, toiletries, and so on. In this review we comprehensively 39
summarize the literature available on activities and emerging new approaches to circumvent 40
plastic pollution. 41
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Problematic plastic 42
The problem is what we are witnessing as an aftermath in huge heaps of plastic waste piling 43
around us and much of this inadvertently goes to the oceans, turning it into an inevitably 44
ultimate global garbage bin. Especially, because of the demerits of plastics being 45
nonbiodegradable, we now realize the concern related to their growing abundance and 46
ubiquitioness in the environment, and as usual more appropriately when it was more than a 47
hint affecting us humans. According to some study plastics are found as micro and nanosized 48
particles in water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe. 49
Plastic waste affects health of all life forms and has been accumulated from poles to equator 50
(Barnes, Galgani, Thompson, & Barlaz, 2009). They come in various sizes and are so categorized 51
into macroplastic and microplastic wastes, both of which have significant environmental impact 52
on minutest to biggest of the life forms, whether existing on land, water or air, or underneath 53
the ground. Actually, marine plastic waste has resulted from poor land plastic waste 54
management (Jambeck et al., 2015) .When accumulating on water resources, macroplastics 55
cause obstruction to solar radiations, release of toxins, anoxia and may be followed by 56
microbial colonization (Lamb et al., 2018). Besides these, they may injure and kill marine 57
species belonging to various domains of the animal kingdom via entanglement and ingestion, 58
cause unintended migration of non-native marine species n floating waste, and/or by settling at 59
the ocean beds as artificial hard grounds blocking natural gas exchange (Barnes, 2002; Derraik, 60
2002; Gregory, 2009; Lozano & Mouat, 2009; Moore, 2008). Microplastics add another 61
dimension to the growing concern for l=plastic pollution. By virtue of their small size they are 62
extensively bioavailable to the organisms and have marked their steady accumulation in almost 63
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all of the food webs (Teuten et al., 2009). There are numerous reviews available dealing with 64
microplastics, their accumulation and impacts they pose on the nature (Cole, Lindeque, 65
Halsband, & Galloway, 2011). On a serious note, plastic waste poses a global threat to our 66
envirionment, growing economy, businesses and security regimens depending on navigation 67
and more importantly human health (Pettipas, Bernier, & Walker, 2016). So what can be and 68
should be done to address the plastic pollution. Can we imagine and live a life without plastics? 69
Probable solutions 70
In the current efforts towards finding solution to this growing problem with plastic wastes, 71
approaches focus over either reducing, reusing, or recycling (the three Rs’) considerations to 72
plastic materials. Recycling however, itself is bound to many of the limitations adding two more 73
Rs that are Energy Recovery and Molecular redesigning have been introduced into warming 74
discussions in the general public and the scientific community (Thompson et al., 2009). Or may 75
be Reduce use of plastic (packaging, single use) and encourage more of reuse by recycling for 76
long term sustainable usage (building materials, roadways or medically important plastic etc), 77
followed by gradual ban or Restriction (a new R at the need of the hour) on production of 78
packaging plastic. So let us review and categorize some of the emerging solutions and try to fit 79
them within the Rs towards mitigating the crisis of plastic waste. 80
Especially for countries where recycling system does not exist and is yet to be enforced from 81
legislations, and where single use plastic bags and sachets are the predominant waste, a newer 82
community driven technology has been on the rise that uses Low Density PolyEthene (LDPE), 83
which is used in plastic bags, and other varieties of plastic waste into making building materials 84
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such as sand blocks and pavers (Kumi-Larbi et al., 2018). As investigated, such a material has 85
compressive strength comparable to C20/25 concrete and more than that of typical Portland 86
cement sandcrete and the best part is its production process uses no water. Moreover this 87
holds potential applications in fabricating roofing tiles, partitions and besides this generating 88
employements and entrepreneurship skills and environmental cleanup by controlling plastic 89
exit to oceans (Kumi-Larbi et al., 2018). In countries such as India, in view of the environmental 90
impacts of sand overdredging, sand extraction has been restricted all over the country Works 91
on similar lines have been evidenced in the literature (Coppola et al., 2018). 92
Another cost effective as well as energy efficient technology serves dual purposes, one by 93
solving the energy crisis by renewable fuel production and other by alleviating the plastic 94
waste. This uses visible light and quantum dot photocatalysts to photoreform common plastic 95
waste viz., polylactic acid, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyurethane, converting them into 96
hydrogen gas (Fuel) and by products such as formate, acetate and pyruvate all of which are 97
organic (bioresources with potential applications respective to each) and nonharming to the 98
biosphere (Uekert, Kuehnel, Wakerley, & Reisner, 2018). Another study by Chow and 99
coworkers entails possibility to convert plastic waste into energetic materials via a light 100
controlled reaction and within one hour. Their method requires modification of surface 101
properties of the polymer by administering activation of supplemented chemical groups (Chow, 102
Wong, Chan, & Chan, 2018). Many other investigations on turning the plastic trash into useful 103
fuels which mostly work on pyrolysis and/or co-pyrolysis are ongoing (Owusu, Banadda, Zziwa, 104
Seay, & Kiggundu, 2018; Wan Mahari et al., 2018). 105
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Recently Canada has initiated a call towards minimizing its single use plastic waste to zero by 106
implementing reduction and recycling plans reclaiming its fitness to the global circular economy 107
(Walker & Xanthos, 2018). Well this is not new, and has been sensed as a game changer 108
especially when the world giant supplier of usable plastic commodities, China, refrained from 109
further imports of recycled plastics from developed countries (Walker, 2018). According to a 110
recent article in the Science magazine, since 1992 China has imported an estimated 45% of 111
global plastic waste. The author narrates in this piece on how bigger economies of the world 112
have exported the plastic trash to lower income countries lacking at well versed waste 113
management policies (Yeston, 2018). Many countries have banned single use plastic bags 114
(Xanthos & Walker, 2017) followed by implementing policy amendments towards reduced 115
use of drinking straws, plastic bottles and concepts of Extended Producer Responsible (EPR) 116
which renders the manufacturer or producer responsible for the product throughout its life 117
cycle. For a detailed view of 118
Attempts to impart biodegradability to plastics have also been made. In one such experiment, 119
biodegradable LDPE has been prepared using LDPE, corn starch and additives and 120
biodegradability was tested under soil burials for range of starch admixtures inferring some 121
promising results (Datta & Halder, 2018). 122
Another way would be to use plastic trash itself to retain other organic wastes from polluted 123
surroundings. Congo red is an azo dye used in textile, printing, dyeing and paper industries, has 124
a higher solubility in organic solvents (Vimonses, Lei, Jin, Chow, & Saint, 2009). Like all 125
benzedine derived dyes, Congo red is usually treated as a carcinogen and is not readily 126
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removable from polluted water bodies nearing industries. Recent work by Miandad and 127
cowrokers documents development of a carbon-metal double layered oxides nano-adsorbent 128
from carbon derived from disposed polystyrene (PS) based plastics, which can absorb more 129
than 300mg/g of Congo Red from solutions (Miandad et al., 2018). 130
Issues with Recycling 131
More than 50% plastic waste from developing countries constitutes household or domestic 132
plastic films. Recycling of the plastic waste, on one hand, appears to be very doable and 133
straightforward solution to management of plastic waste but on the other hand it actually lets 134
macrolpastic deterioration to microplastic which are easily and inevitably disseminated to the 135
open environment. Besides recycling revolution has been hyped more at words than in practice. 136
This is due to the unmatched recycling rate to that of fresh plastic production. Nevertheless, for 137
the sake and scope of discussing let us review what new has been done or studied in this 138
scenario. The highlights of a state of the art review on management of wastes from plastic 139
films by Horodytskya and coworkers showcase that plastic film recycling has numerous 140
limitations {Horodytska, 2018 #33}. First of all it being very sloggy at the rate unexpected, 141
secondly, due to contamination and thirdly, most critically, problems associated with sorting 142
from mixed master wastes. Moreover there is a need to perform life cycle assessment for the 143
recycled films to ascertain and characterize influence on the environment. 144
Conclusion 145
Most of the plastic waste generates from single use and discard plastic vessels used in 146
packaging various commodities of daily use (Yue et al., 2010). . Green industry discussions 147
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foresee that the only apparently successful mode of reducing and reusing plastic waste is to 148
educate people through awareness programmes. Many such programmes have aroused a sense 149
of environmentalism into the general public especially when buying goods and services. A 150
subset of them, the green consumers, are willing to pay more for carbon saving than carbon 151
intensive materials. 152
Ensuring continued green consumerism would require backing support by policies and 153
regulations from governments and responsible actions from the corporate world (Viswanathan 154
& Varghese, 2018). In this accord, there is a greater need to implement green marketing of eco-155
friendly products so as to reach out to the ever expanding consumer base. 156
Acknowledgement 157
The authors are thankful to the Department of Biotechnology, UIBT, Chandigarh University for 158
critical review of the manuscript. The views presented here do not reflect in part and/or as a 159
whole an outcome of any mandated research activity(s) of the institution(s) to which the authors 160
are and/or had been affiliated to but in actual are products of authors’ independent observations. 161
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