Main topic

Over the past 70 years, our dependence on plastic has extremely arisen and reached unsustainable levels. Yet, despite the harmful and negative acclaimed effects related to the overuse of plastic, its production and consumption continues to soar, although plastic is not yet properly disposed and recycled. The quantity of plastic pollution has reached in the last few decades over 400 million tons, and this is unacceptable, both for the human health, but more specifically for the flora and fauna. Plastic pollutes habitats, natural environments, reduces ecosystem’s ability to adapt to climate changes, and affects food production and humans’ wellbeing.

Figure 1 – Source: theroundup.org – Plastic Statistics (2022).

Plastic pollution is a term to refer to all that waste that does not end up in trash bins or proper landfills, but rather makes its way into the environment. Plastic waste includes bottles, containers, bags, boxes, wrappers and all the other items which are carried into rivers, oceans, forests or parks. Plastic pollution is the result of human actions, but humans fail to fully understand the extent to which plastic harms and damages the flora and fauna around us. It has been estimated that every year more than 12 million metric tons of plastic enter our natural ecosystems, but this is a mere approximation since it is impossible to establish the exact quantity, especially if we have to consider microplastics as well.

Figure 2 – Source: Encyclopædia Britannica.

The biggest problem is that plastic does not decompose like other materials, it does not biodegrade, but it rather breaks down first into many tiny pieces 5 millimetres long called microplastics and then these in turn disintegrate in nanoparticles which are less than 0.1 micrometre in size. The degradation process is extremely long and time consuming, it may take up to 1000 years. Hence, once plastic enters our ecosystems, it becomes a dangerous threat and challenge to face, especially if we fail to consider the incredible array of wildlife living around us that we directly impact and damage, as well as the habitats that get disrupted.

Figure 3 – Source: theseacleaners.org – Microplastics in human blood and lungs: an urgent case for scientific research.

Figure 4 – source: pureh2o.co.uk – Microplastics update: health impacts and warnings over food and water.