Plastic Waste facts
While investigating facts about Plastic Waste Management and Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Residents in Surabaya, Indonesia can pay for the bus with plastic waste instead of money. Paying with plastic will grant you with 2 hours of travel. The aim is to reduce plastic waste whilst getting more people to use public transport, thus lowering the number of cars on the road.
how plastic waste affects the environment?
In 2001 India started building roads that hold together using polymer glues made from shredded plastic wastes. These plastic roads have developed no potholes and cracks after years of use, and they are cheaper to build. As of 2016, there are more than 21,000 miles of plastic roads.
What is plastic waste management?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what to do with plastic waste. Here are 50 of the best facts about Plastic Waste Management Rules 2018 and Plastic Waste Problem I managed to collect.
what happens to plastic waste?
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An architect in Colombia started a company to turn waste plastics into Lego style bricks for low cost homes. Using the bricks, it takes 4 people about 5 days to construct a 430 square foot house. The concept is to reduce plastic waste and give homes to those most in need.
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5 Asian countries are responsible for 60% of the plastic waste in the world's oceans, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
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Scientists in the Netherlands are developing an ocean cleaning system which uses the ocean's currents and a barrier to remove plastic waste. A 100 km long system will be deployed in 2020 to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
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Plastic was invented in 1907. Since 1950, humanity has produced 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste; 9% of it is recycled, 12% is incinerated, 79% ends up in a landfill or in the environment. Majority of the world's plastic waste from the developed world is exported to Southeast Asia.
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Plastic waste can be converted into fuel - gasoline, diesel or kerosine - needing only 1 kw of electricity make 1 liter of oil. This means all the plastic choking sea life, polluting the ocean, and filling landfills could have been used to power cars and machinery.
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Chewing gum is made from synthetic plastics like polyvinyl acetate (PVAc, also known as wood glue) & polyethylene (PE, the main ingredient in plastic bags), & gum chewers will create 1 million tons of unregulated plastic waste over the next 5 years.
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In Zurich, the garbage disposal is financed by selling official plastic bags for non-recyclable waste. Garbage trucks will not even pick up unofficial bags from houses and they instead have to be placed in designated neighbourhood containers.
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It is estimated that of all the trash sent to landfills roughly 30% is paper (recyclable), 18% is food waste (recyclable), and 16% is plastic. Most of this is recyclable and should not be ending up in landfills.
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Cockroaches that live near humans eat almost everything. They can eat hair, glue, book covers, plastic, soap, leather. Wild cockroaches consume organic waste and play significant role in cleaning of the ecosystems.
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Stanford researchers have discovered that mealworms can survive on a diet of only plastic, converting it to carbon dioxide, and possibly offering a solution to our plastic waste problem
Plastic Waste data charts
For your convenience take a look at Plastic Waste figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.
Why is it important to reduce plastic waste?
You can easily fact check why can't we burn plastic waste by examining the linked well-known sources.
The plastic industry formed the first recycling campaign in the 1950s to counteract Vermont legislation holding the industry accountable for disposable waste.
The gut bacteria in mealworms can transform plastic into safe biodegradable waste - source
In the United States, approximately 40% of household waste is created by plastic drinking bottles.
The air in Guiyu smells of noxious metals and burning plastic.
90% of the plastic waste in the world’s oceans is carried there by just 10 rivers - source
When did plastic waste become a problem?
Plastic can be a cost-effective way to package products but it creates a lot of waste.
How plastic waste can be reduced during elections?
Since China’s crackdown on foreign waste imports, nearly half of plastic waste exported from the US for recycling was shipped to Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, where there is no regulatory framework to ensure plastic waste is processed in an environmentally friendly way.
Paper bags cause 3.3 times the emission of greenhouse gases, 4 times the consumption of water, and 2.7 times the amount of solid waste as plastic bags.
Adidas made a 3D Printed Shoe from plastic waste from the ocean
A Beverly Hills plastic surgeon used the waste from his patients' liposuction to create bio-diesel to fuel his girlfriend's SUV.
Plastic waste particles in a marine environment are known as "nurdles"
