Post #5108

Plastic—when a miracle technology becomes a burden Plastic is everywhere in modern society. While it has paved the way for enormous progress, the pollution it leaves behind is now creating major challenges. Plastic—or more specifically, synthetic materials made from the chemical treatment of petroleum—has been a feature of our lives since the 1950s, and the volume produced every year is growing at a dizzying pace. Production has more than doubled in the past two decades, from 200 million tons in 2000 to over 400 million in 2024. Yet end-of-life plastic is a serious problem. Less than 10% of the plastic used globally is recycled. And while 19% is incinerated, only a fraction of that is used to generate heat for other purposes, such as for district heating or power production, or burned with filters in place to reduce air pollution. The vast majority of plastic ends up in huge landfills in developing countries or dumped into the ocean (at the rate of 15 metric tons per minute), where it either disappears deep under water or aggregates into massive floating garbage patches in the mid-Pacific—which together exceed the size of France several times over. What's more, the particles released as plastic breaks down pollute every corner of our planet. Microplastic has been found everywhere: in the air, on the ground, in the sea—where it threatens the lives of marine organisms—in permanent snow and even in the produce we eat. Source:Phys.org @EverythingScience