Pollution from plastics

Table 5.48 Potential pollutants from heated paints or plastic coatings ...

Phthalates are easily released into the environment because there is no covalent bond between them and plastics in which they are mixed. The major portion of phthalates that are found in the environment comes from the slow releases of phthalates from plastics and other phthalate containing articles due to weathering. At natural conditions, phthalates are hydrolyzed to some extent yielding their corresponding monoesters, which are also environmental pollutants [15]. They show poor mobility in soil but aqueous leachates from landfills may contain trace amounts of more soluble products of phthalate degradation [11, 16]. 

Our consistent need to improve our daily lives also led to unanticipated industrial developments. For example, the production of automobiles led to expansion of the oil production (or vice versa) and metal working industries, both of which account for pollution by several compounds cited on the contaminant list. The chemical processing industry has been responsible for many items we now consider the essentials of modem life. From plastics to modem electronic devices, the chemical industry has guided and benefited from developments and also exerted colinear effects on the contamination of air and water. Again, the development of remediation technologies is needed to establish an acceptable equilibrium. 

The most immediate advantage of making biodegradable plastics is to address the problems of litter and marine pollution resulting from plastics disposal, which are difficult to solve any other way. 

A. EEIGENBAUM, s. LAOUBI, J. M. VERGNAUD, Kiuetics of diffusion of a pollutant from a recycled polymer through a functional barrier Recycled plastics for food packaging. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 1997, 66, 597-607. 

Svendsen, C., Meharg, A.A., Freestone, P. and Weeks, J.M. (1996) Use of an earthworm lysosomal biomarker for the ecological assessment of pollution from an industrial plastics... 

Already there are certain restrictions for certain non-biodegradable plastic packaging materials (the US Plastics Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987, Public Law 100-220 and the Annex of the MARPOL (marine pollution) Convention - the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships which prohibit the disposal of plastics at sea, which allowed the US Navy promote the development of aquatic biodegradable plastics at sea. 

Pollutant from solvent used for bonding plastic fittings... 

However, the externalities associated with bio-based plastic production (that includes intensive agriculture to produce the biomass) can exceed those for conventional plastics. Pesticide/ferlilizer pollution from agriculture is already widespread and can affect human populations. For instance, Hottle et al. (2013) report... 

Lithner D, Nordensvan I, Dave G. Comparative acute toxicity of leachates from plastic products made of polypropylene, polyethylene, PVC, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, and epoxy to Daphnia magna. Environ Sci Pollut Res 2012 19 (5) 1763-1772. 

Using phthalate levels (derived from plastics) in the tissue of larger filter feeding organisms such as whales as indicators of microplastics pollution has been suggested (Fossi et al., 2012). However, plasticized PVC that incorporate phthalates is only a small fraction of the plastics debris sampled at sea. 

Supercritical fluids can be applied to remove polluting materials from the environment. Theory and practice of this technology is of increasing interest at the present time. In Supercritical fluids and reductions in environmental pollution by Koji Yamanaka and Hitoshi Ohtaki focus their attention to start with the thermodynamics and structure of supercritical fluids and then describe the supercritical water oxidation process, the extraction of pollutant from soils with supercritical carbon dioxide and other supercritical fluids, and recycle of used plastic bottles with supercritical methanol. Andrew I. Cooper et al. report on Supercritical carbon dioxide as a green solvent for... 

A reduced risk of pollution from nitrates, phosphates and agrochemicals is fairly obvious but less inputs used more effectively means fewer road miles for delivery, less packaging production and waste and less pressure on disposal of plastics, etc. It conld mean fewer passes through the field if the inputs are used more effectively, saving on fuel and reducing GHG emissions. 

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