Land
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Natural
decomposers do not break down plastics. Hence, plastics form
a large proportion of solid waste.
A
lot of plastic ends up as litter. The UK appears quite badly
regarding litter, with many oveseas visitors surprised at
the amount left lying around.
The most common way to reuse/recycle plastics is to chop them
finely into some sort of pellets, then reuse the material
in another product.
Air
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The
main impacts on the air involve burning plastics which almost
always produces the very toxic substances called dioxins and
furans in small amounts. |
Water
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Surface
waters all over the world are 'littered' with plastic rubbish.
Some plastics are broken down into microscopic fragments which
float amongst the plankton in the sea. Once fish and mammals
eat these fragments, they cause digestive problems because
they can't digest the plastics.
Other items such as discarded fishing nets, six-pack can holders
and plastic cups don't break down, and simply float endlessly
in the sea.
Sea birds and mammals die when they ingest this plastic waste,
or become tangled up in the debris. 100,000 marine mammals
are killed each year this way.
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