yes bio degradable plastic exists
it is seldom used and significantly more expensive
so
industry wont use it
and we end up stuck with immortal plastic
feel free to refute any or all portions of the following
I would be very interested in what you have to say
Plastic is made up of numerous petroleum based compounds, to produce 1 kg of Acrylic (PMMA, Polymethyl methacrylate) (23) 2 kg of petroleum is needed and up to 5 kg of toxic waist is generated (2,3). Plastic never breaks down but instead photo-degrades into some of the most hazardous petrochemical substances known to man (3,6,7,38). PMMA has an embodied energy of about 131.0MJ/kg with a density of 1180 kg/m3 (1,3,30). Although it is difficult to determine the exact production level of plastics per yr. 2007 estimates range from 100,000,000 to 205,000,000 tons (28,45) with an anual increase of 9.5% (45)
100,000,000,000 plastic bags are used each year in the u.s. alone (10)
the U.S recovery (recycling) rate for all plastics in 2005 was 1% (3,5,8,10)
In 2007 World wide, less than 3% is recovered (3,5,8).
In an EPA ranking of the twenty chemicals whose production generates the most total hazardous waste, five of the top six are chemicals commonly used by the plastic industry. (10)
recycling one ton of plastic saves 1000 gallons of oil (10,32)
Plastic as it photo-degrades releases binders like Phthalates, Bisphenol A, Nonyphenols and PBDEs along with countless other known carcinogens and teratogens (3,16,21,25,32). Once the binders are released, plastic remains as a large molecule(3,17). Dioxins are created both during production and incineration (2,3,16,17,31,32,46) dioxins are the strongest carcinogen known to man (3,5,6.7,31,38), The number of harmful chemicals associated with the production of plastic are to numerous to mention in this comparison, however; just one a primary component of acrylics ( mainly polycarbonates ) is bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone disrupter, that releases into food and liquid at room temperature(3,16,17,21,), it is considered a teratogen along with thalidomide and is known to cause embryonic malformations (3.8.16). Phthalates have been shown to cause genital malformations
In 1999 Plastic waste had outweighed plankton in our oceans 6 to 1, by 2002 the number had risen to 10/1 (3,10,11,16,17). The north pacific gyre alone, has a density of 14.8 million visible pieces of floating plastic per square mile, over an area twice the size of texas (3,11). Thats 1.9 pieces of plastic such as, bottles, bottle caps, lighters, beach palls, plastic packaging or plastic aquariums for every square foot of ocean surface spanning an area of 537,202 square miles (3,11). This is only one of six mid ocean gyre systems polluted to this extent (39). These areas of floating plastic range in size from twice the size of Texas to the size of Africa (3,11).
Plastic appears to have a half life longer than most radioactive compounds (3) with its use being required by the epa as containment packaging for low grade nuclear waist disposal (33,43). Polyethylene has been approved for the long term disposal of liquid radioactive waist (3,40,41,42) ( of course they also approved glass, tar and concrete ). The long chain plastic molecule is so durable that its half life is still being researched.
Plastic virtually never breaks down in the environment beyond the molecular level (3,7,11). We are stuck with every piece of plastic ever created (11). Unless collected and incinerated there is no getting rid of it. Remanufacture is not effective in halting plastics from leaching contaminates into there surroundings. There is little debate over the adverse effects of plastics to the marine environment (ref-all not one dissenting opinion as to plastics harmful effect on the marine ecosystem ), Various forms of marine life, eat so much plastic, mistaking plastic fragments for plankton that it has decimated our ocean communities (10,11,15,16,17,44). Filter feeders unable to distinguish between plastic molecules and plankton, ingest and include millions of tons of plastics into the food chain (3,7,10,11,16,17,32,44), leading to the contamination and eventual starvation of countless organisms (3,10,11,16,17,32,44).
additional comments
the cost of collecting, destroying or remanufacturing Plastic (as most plastic is uneconomical to remanufacture) “must” be endured no mater how high because of plastics highly toxic and enduring nature; were as the recycling of glass can be safely limited to its economic viability with out adverse environmental effects, as long as source point gaseous emissions are controlled. The embodied energy of acrylic is over ten times that of glass, making it both an economically and environmentally unsound alternative (3,5,14,32). The environmental impact of glass is minimal (3,6,32,36,).
references
1 ) Materials, geometry, and net energy ratio of tubular ...
2 )
http://www.mindfully.org/Berkeley/Berkeley-Plastics-Task-Force.htm
3 )
www.mindfully.org/Plastic/
4 ) measure of sustainability embodied energy
5 )
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Best-Recycle-Plastic.htm
6 )
www.lotuslive.org/products/files/LLDrinkContainer01.pdf
7 )
www.fakeplasticfish.com/synthetic_sea_transcript.html
8 )
www.ecologycenter.org
9 ) Metro: Waste reduction fast facts: Glass
10 ) Metro: Waste reduction fast facts: Plastic
11 )
www.acfnewsource.org/environment/
12 )
www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com/ 2007/06/
13 ) NRC: Radioactive Waste
14 ) BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Warning on plastic's toxic threat
15 ) Keeping our ocean clean : Bradley Beach Today
16 ) Untitled Document
17 )
www.mountainfilm.org/downloads/docs/The_Plastic_Sea.pdf
18 )
www.visiongroup.co.uk/go.jsp?page=visiongroup_uk.compare comparison of glass and plastic
19 )
http://www.firsttankguide.net/tanktype.php comparison of glass and acrylic
20 )
www.stii.dost.gov.ph/pjsweb/data/decomposer.htm - 7k
21 )
http://archive.greenpeace.org/toxics/pvcdatabase/bad.html
22 )
http://www.epa.gov/chemfact/f_acrlac.txt
23 )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymethyl_methacrylate
24 )
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5998554.html
25 )
http://www.npi.gov.au/database/substance-info/profiles/6.html
26 )
http://goalgreen.com/2007/06/25/plastic-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/
27 )
http://www.chemsoc.org/exemplarchem/entries/2004/bristol_whitehead/facts.htm
28 )
http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/Plastics.htm
29 )
www.level.org.nz
30 )
www.grisb.org/publications/pub33.htm - 24k -
31 )
http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/publications/
32 ) GLASS vs. PLASTIC
33 ) RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES FOR DUKE UNIVERSITY ...
34)
http://www.devicelink.com/mpb/archi...esources/backissues/chemicals/acrylicacid.htm
35 ) Fact Sheets - Glass
36 )
ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/gsd/pdf/yrr_feb.pdf
37 ) Cullet Preheating: The Realistic Solution for All Glass Furnaces ...
38 ) Professional Environmental Solutions - Atlanta, Georgia
39 ) Patagonia Under Siege: The Plastic Killing Fields - Pacific Ocean ...
40 ) Composition and process for the encapsulation and stabilization of ...
41 ) APPENDIX D - Key Federal Laws and Regulations
42 ) Mixed-Waste Shipping & Transportation | Radiation Protection | US EPA
43 ) Low Level Radioactive Waste Information Page
44 ) DEP: Atlantic Green Sea Turtle Fact Sheet
45 ) Ulrich Reifenhäuser: Plastics and rubber have changed the world ...
46 ) Plastic Debris Washed Ashore
47 ) Bizarre Properties of Glass Revealed | LiveScience
48 ) Canada Likely to Label Plastic Ingredient ‘Toxic’ - New York Times
additional resources
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/
http://www.americanplasticscouncil.org/s_apc/sec.asp?TrackID=&CID=343&DID=1110&VID=86
http://www.mindfully.org/Berkeley-Plastics-Task-Force.htm
http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/pet/recycling.html
http://americanplasticscouncil.org/s_apc/sec.asp
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/glass.htm
http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/seahome/housewaste/src/glass.htm
http://www.cityofmadison.com/streets/plastic.html
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