Plastics, a material that is widely used by all of us. Look around you right now, I am sure you will definitely be able to spot something ‘plasticky’ in your surroundings!
Plastics are just everywhere thanks to their strength, resistance, durability, and ease to manufacture. An added bonus? They are lightweight and cost-friendly to produce too! With such characteristics, it is no surprise that plastics are the go-to for producers and consumers alike.
In the food industry, plastics have no doubt been widely used to store or package food products. Enter the supermarket and you will be surrounded by a variety of food carefully cocooned in plastic to keep it fresh, bacteria-free and protecting it from damage. The usefulness of plastic, therefore, explains the rapid growth of plastic food packaging – which is expected to become a $370 billion market in 2020.
Well, plastics are amazing but our daily use of plastics, especially single-use plastics that are often associated with food packaging, is posing a very real threat to our environment! So much so that the United Nations has declared the situation of marine pollution by plastic “a planetary crisis”.
Indeed, as seen from Ocean Conservancy’s 2018 beach cleanup, 9 out its top 10 most retrieved item are related to food and drink packaging. If this does not serve as a sign and evidence to this ‘plastic crisis’ that we are in and garner a change in lifestyle behaviours, we will soon be snorkelling with plastics rather than the vibrant marine life.
Read on to find out more about the negative impacts these transparent material are inflicting on our environment…
The Woes of Plastic Packaging
Before plastics are used, the process of producing these very pollutants is itself polluting the environment. One of the factor inputs of plastics is fossil fuels – oil and natural gas. During the process of fossil fuel extraction, toxic gases such as sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, and etc. are emitted. These toxic emissions contribute to atmospheric pollution.
After production and use, the (im)proper disposal of plastics contribute to water and land pollution.
When buried and disposed at landfills, the non-biodegradable nature of plastics renders its persistence in our environment. More than land pollution by its physical form (ie: by just existing), water pollution can occur when chemicals from these plastics leach into the groundwater and soil, contaminating aquifers and the water bodies along its path.
Even when plastics are ‘properly’ disposed of through incineration, the burning of plastic releases harmful substances such as heavy metals, toxic chemicals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) into the atmosphere, contributing to air pollution.
If improperly disposed of, such as plastic litters, these plastics first pollute the land, then the aquatic environment as they get washed into water bodies. In particular, our ocean is increasingly being polluted by plastics. Out of all the trash that can be found floating around the gyres in our blue waters, plastic is believed to constitute 90% of it. The actual amount of plastic in surface waters is not very well known, but estimates range from 10,000s to 100,000s tonnes. Plastic waters rather than blue waters?
Clearly, the convenience of plastic packaging in our foods have come at a price to our environment. To find out more about plastic pollution as a whole, check out this paper by:
Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2018, September). Plastic Pollution. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
At last, we hope that this blog post has made you more aware of the woes of plastic and that the next time you head to the supermarket, you will skip the extra plastic bag to put your apples in, and bring your own grocery bag. Or you could even visit a zero-waste grocery store to avoid all the pesky plastics and go plastic-free!
Some zero-waste grocery stores in Singapore to start your plastic-free journey include:
References:
Foodprint. (2020, March 30). The Environmental Impact of Food Packaging. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://foodprint.org/issues/the-environmental-impact-of-food-packaging/
Fortuna, A. (2019, May 5). How Does Plastic Cause Air Pollution?: RePurpose Global Blog. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://repurpose.global/letstalktrash/how-does-plastic-cause-air-pollution/
Parker, L. (2019, September 03). Plastic food packaging was most common beach trash in 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/plastic-food-packaging-top-trash-global-beach-cleanup-2018/
Types of Plastic Food Packaging and Safety: A Close-Up Look. (2019, May 07). Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/types-plastic-food-packaging-safety-close-look/
