Talk show master George Carlin has a widely circulated show about humans and the earth, to the effect that the earth does not need human self-righteous protection, and so human beings extinct, the Earth will naturally recover themselves, even if the plastic is difficult to degrade, it does not matter.
'The earth can put the plastic together and a brand new planet is born!
Image courtesy of George Carlin performance video
And scientists' research has confirmed that George's words are not just fragments, but are happening in the real world - plastics have been deposited in the strata, becoming unique stratigraphic components and geologically crucial indicators. The type of plastic, and plastic text, etc., can determine the formation of the formation of time.
Legend: A Tudor-style ditch at Cedar Park in Brocksbruck, Hertfordshire, plastic bags of the 1980s from the upper layers (Courtesy of MOLA, taken in 2010.) These plastics It has been here for thirty years and is well preserved.
Photograph: Plastic debris in carbonate cemented sandstone Gorrondatxe-Azkorri Beach (Photo: H. Astibia) in Basque Country, Spain
This conclusion comes from Jan Zalasiewicz and his team of paleontologists at the Department of Geology at the University of Leicester that we believe the Earth's surface is changing dramatically as a result of the mass production of durable synthetic plastics and we are therefore in the 'plastic age'.
Plastics have infiltrated every corner of modern life, they are cheap, lightweight, waterproof and can stand the test of many strong acid and alkali, durable, so that human society can not resist.
As I wrote this article, I looked at my desk and saw plastic-containing products including computers, iPads, stationery storage boxes, scissors handles, binders boxes, ink pads, staplers , Patch panels, snack packs and a few small ornaments made of plastic, as well as the glasses I wear, and even the clothes I wear are made of chemical fibers.Whenever you see this article right now, I I believe you look around, will be able to find a few samples made of plastic products, at least you now have a hand-held cell phone there are multiple components made of plastic.
If you say goodbye to plastics, you will say goodbye to modern life - after all, even the minimum power will need to be delivered by wire, which must be wrapped in insulating plastic.
Due to the ubiquitous demand for plastic everywhere in the modern world, plastic production is huge and growing. Plastic production was 2 million tons in 1950, and annual production has now risen to 300 million tons. By 2015 it is estimated that the cumulative amount of plastic produced will be about 50 With an average of 40 million kg of plastic per person, that means the total amount of plastic is equivalent to that of all human beings.
Figure. Global Plastic Annual Output Source: Statista, PlasticsEurope
So much plastic, have gone where?
There is a small part of the plastic can be recycled for recycling, the global plastic recovery rate as a whole is estimated to be only about 5%. At present, the proportion of plastic recycling different channels of data is not consistent, statistical discrepancies may also have discrepancies. Is about 15-25%, while in the United States, the proportion is estimated to be less than 5%. In China, the recovery rate is about 40% because of the huge fleet pick-up.
There is also a portion of landfill or incineration. Incineration of plastic will produce dioxin-like carcinogens. At present, even the most advanced incineration plants can only collect fly ash containing dioxins as much as possible, Buried in order to avoid the harmful effects of dioxin on humans and other creatures, and those that are buried will become part of the formation after a long period of time.
And about half of the plastic is neither recovered nor burned, buried, but left in the natural world, except for the aforementioned entry into the formation that becomes a marker of human activity Part of which is circulated by the atmosphere and water into the body of water, and the sea is often the ultimate destination of these plastics.More than half of the marine litter is made of plastic, and according to the China Marine Environment Bulletin, plastics (including foams, plastic bottles and plastics Bag) is China's most common ocean floating garbage, plastic waste accounted for as much as 68% of all beach waste.
Caption: Plastic trash at Manila Bay Beach A boy swimming in Manila contaminated with plastic garbage Photograph by Daniel Müller / Greenpeace
In 2010, 4.8 million tons -12.7 million tons of plastic garbage were flown into the sea, equivalent to one-minute plastic garbage being loaded into the ocean every minute.In China, only the Yangtze dumped about 330,000 tons of plastic Garbage, is currently the world's largest source of plastic garbage river pollution.
Caption: Plastic bottle garbage at the beach in China Image credit: Greenpeace
Episode 4 of the recent hot documentary "Blue Planet II" also mentions in particular the threat posed by plastic contamination to marine life.
Legend: Blue Planet II Episode 4 video capture
In the photo, the tortoise was trapped in a plastic bag, and it was lucky to have the photographer Rafa Herrero Massieuz free it, and once again, in the waters off British Columbia, a production team helped to save a dragged-on Almost a kilometer of fishing net rope humpback whales took nine hours to clean up all the ropes and the humpback whales could swiftly swim. Producer David Attenborough also called for less plastic to use in the interview Protect the sea.
According to National Geographic reports, 267 species of marine life are affected by plastic garbage, with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimating that each year hundreds of thousands of marine life are killed by marine plastic, while seabirds have been harmed by about 44 % Of seabirds eat plastic because they rely solely on vision to determine if they are food, resulting in asphyxiation of many birds.
Caption: Blue-footed booby sitting in the middle of plastic trash on the island of Lobos, Tierra Island, Peru Photograph by Robert Marc Lehmann / Greenpeace
Can not get rid of plastic, how can we do?
Despite the serious problems posed by plastic, as mentioned above, modern life has been unable to leave the plastic.
Individuals also do not hope that a new material can be invented to completely replace plastic, not only because of the low cost of plastic, wide range of applications, superior performance are difficult to surpass, but also because of the birth of new materials, but also Often accompanied by new problems.
The more realistic solution is to recycle as much as possible, except to reduce the front end as much as possible, such as reducing over-packaging, using less plastic bags and reducing overconsumption and waste.
In fact, most of the household plastic is recyclable, and there are only 26 types of plastics listed on the ZZ91 Recycling Network.
As long as the classification can be well recycled, and can offset the logistics costs of the case, basically all the plastic used in our lives can be recycled.
Most of the regular plastic products have a recycling mark, to help users to better classify the plastic.
Legend: plastic classification recycling mark
But in fact, plastic products can be recycled and not only with the variety of plastic.
Recyclable PP takeaway meal boxes why not get recycled?
The topic of take-away garbage this year, heated discussion on the network, which take-out meal boxes are mostly pp material, in the plastic classification mark system is Category 5. Technically speaking, can be recycled. However, in reality, take-away There is a very large recycling difficulty of the lunch box, because the single weight is very light, the cleaning is very troublesome.
100 800ml transparent lunch boxes weighing less than 2.5 kg. According to the current recovery rate of transparent PP waste, which 2.5 kg pp can be sold up to 15 yuan.But after the lunch box is often stained with hard to remove food Residue and grease, which make the collection and cleaning more complicated.If you are too lazy to wash the dishes and takeout, you can imagine cleaning 100 meal boxes is very time-consuming. Coupled with the cost of logistics, let the collection Cleaning takeaway meal boxes is a cost far beyond earnings.
Is the most easily recycled PET beverage bottle really recycled?
In the current recycling system, the best plastic product to be recycled is probably the PET bottle, which is one of the most widely available plastic products accessible to the general public at large because it is relatively large and easy to clean.
After the bottles have been recycled, they can be regenerated into new PET plastic granules.
Regeneration at the same level, that is, the same food grade PET pellets regenerated into new beverage bottles
Degraded regeneration, that is, to generate lower grades of PET particles, mostly used to produce chemical fiber clothing
The same level of regeneration can effectively prevent more plastic garbage.If all the bottles can be recycled, and regenerate a new beverage bottle at the same level, then on the one hand does not produce new plastic bottle garbage, on the other hand Do not need to consume more oil.
Image credit: CLOSED LOOP RECYCLING - EXAMPLE PRODUCT
However, to achieve this, these drinks bottles can be safely recycled and enter into a bottle-to-bottle rejuvenation business. Most relying on disorganized waste recycling systems, most bottles are thrown into the trash , And then collected by the scavengers and sold to the waste station.In this case, on the one hand most of the bottles have been polluted by other rubbish, increasing the difficulty of cleaning up; on the other hand, the waste station is completely guided by the price and will be sold to the higher bidder Recycling plants may be downgraded for recycling, or even be recycled by illegal factories in a highly polluting manner.
Therefore, beverage bottles for better recycling, the need for government and enterprises have to assume more responsibility.
Greenpeace reports in this year's "Bottled World" and "Coca-Cola's Happiness and Failure," that every minute there are 1 million plastic bottles sold worldwide, with 530 billion PET bottles globally produced in 2014 This figure is estimated to grow at a rate of 4.7% per annum, with nearly half being discarded after one use and flowing into the sea in large quantities.
Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Suntory, Danone, Pepper and Nestle, the world's six largest beverage producers, of which five, with the exception of Coca-Cola, sell more than 2 million tons of plastic bottles a year together with other types of plastic packaging, A total of 3.6 million tons, but the five manufacturers use recycled PET bottles only 6.6%.
Coca-Cola declined to comment on its use of plastic packaging on the grounds of "business-sensitive information." However, according to Greenpeace's estimates, Coca-Cola's annual output of about 110 billion plastic bottles has been set by Coca-Cola to achieve 25% Renewable materials, and eventually they achieved only 12.4%, Coca-Cola directly after this goal, but at the same time, Coca-Cola plastic bottles is still increasing the proportion of bottles that can be repeatedly refilled Lowering.
Plastic bottle production scene Picture Source: Greenpeace
Producer responsibility extension and deposit system
'Extended producer responsibility' means that the producer is responsible for the entire life cycle of the product, has to take over the responsibility for recovery, recycling and disposal after the product is used, and attributed the responsibility to the producer during the disposal phase.
In the recovery of beverage bottles, in order to carry out the "extended responsibility system for producers," there are currently more than 40 countries and regions in the world that apply a deposit system. The standard beverage package deposit is generally 10% -15% of the beverage price. In Germany, for example, a deposit system has been introduced in Germany since 2003. A bottle of 1.5 liters or more drinks a deposit of 0.5 euro (about 3.9 yuan) and a beverage bottle of 1.5 liters or less receives a deposit of 0.25 euro. Bottle recovery up to 98.5%.
Israel, which also operates a deposit system, has seen a 270% increase in beverage bottle recycling from 2003 to 2013. Our neighbor, South Korea, has also implemented a deposit system with great success, with over 95% recycled and more than 85% Get regenerated
At present, China has also started to gradually establish an extension of producer responsibility system.At the beginning of this year, the State Council promulgated a program of extending the responsibility of producers, but at present, the package only involves the packaging of beverage paper-based composite packaging, which is often said Tetra Pak Packaging The establishment of producer responsibility extension systems for plastic packaging also needs to be further promoted by businesses and the public.
When humans are extinct, the plastic that exists in the earth's strata, the oceans, can prove that we've been there before, but even more important than remembered is how to make humans extinct later and live better before extinction some.