Health Risks From Environmental Pollution With Plastic

Due to the huge increase in population and the uplift in living standards of people, there is a big growth in the number of plastic waste. As a result of this, disposal of waste plastic has also become a major environmental issue in all parts of the world. It was estimated that 1.5 billion plastic are manufactured in the world per annum (Rafat and Tarun, 2004; Weiguo et al., 2013). Every year millions of plastic are discarded or buried all over the world, representing a very serious threat to the ecology. It is estimated that every year almost 100000 million plastic end their service life and out of that, more than 50% are discarded to landfills or garbage, without any treatment. By the year 2030, the number would reach 12000000 million yearly. Including the stockpiled plastic, there would be 5000000 million plastic to be discarded on a regular basis (Azevedo et al., 2012). In India alone, the total number of discarded plastic would be an estimated 112 million per year after retreading twice (Mukul, 2010).

The plastic waste which are disposed to landfills constitute one important part of solid waste. The plastic are bulky, but 75% of its volume is void and these spaces provide potential sites for the breeding of rodents. There is a tendency for the plastic to rise in a land-fill and float to the surface (Neil and Ahmed, 1994; Rhyner et al. 1995).

Stockpiled plastic also present a variety of health, environmental and economic risks through air, water and soil pollution (Neil and Ahmed, 1994; Bashar et al., 2012; Weiguo et al., 2013). The plastic store water for a longer period because of its particular shape and impermeable nature providing a breeding habitat for mosquitoes and various pests. Use of discarded plastic as a fuel has been banned due to environmental issues (Gregory, 2001; Weiguo et al., 2013).

Plastic burning, which is the easiest and cheapest method of disposal, causes serious fire hazards (Benazzouk et al., 2007; Mehmet and Erhan, 2011; Bashar et al., 2012). Temperature in that area rises and the poisonous smoke with uncontrolled emissions of potentially harmful compounds is very dangerous to humans, animals and plants. Once ignited, it is very difficult to extinguish as the 75% empty space can store a lot of free oxygen. It was reported that a serious fire hazard happened in Wales in an area where 10 million plastic were dumped. The plastic have been burning continuously for atleast 15 years causing serious health and environmental problems (Pacheco-Torgal et al., 2012; Camille and George, 2013). In addition, the residue powder left after burning pollutes the soil. The oil that is generated from the melting of plastic can also pollute soil and water.

The pyrolysis method for recycling used plastic is a technique which heats whole or shredded plastic in a reactor vessel in an oxygen free atmosphere. The disadvantage of pyrolysis is that, it produces carbon black powder, which pollutes the atmosphere. Plastic treading method is a re-manufacturing process for plastic that helps to replace the tread on waste plastic. It can preserve almost 90% of the material in spent plastic and the material cost is about 20% compared to manufacturing a new one.

Plastic waste can be used in a variety of civil and non-civil engineering applications such as geotechnical works, road construction, fuel for cement kilns, incineration for production of electricity, feedstock for carbon black manufacturing, reefs in marine environments and aggregate in cement-based products. Still, millions of plastic are being buried, thrown away or burnt all over the world.

For the past few years, construction industry has taken up the challenge to incorporate sustainability in the production activities by searching for more environmental friendly raw materials or by the use of solid waste materials as aggregates in concrete.

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