Let's start with: can you have a day without plastic
Starting in the morning, you touched the shell of your cell phone, your toothbrush, your breakfast box, your dashboard in your commuting car, your office computer keyboard... I don't know. Plastics are already silently permeating every gap in life, and even every water you drink reminds you that no one is left out of the plastic age。
Our "blue planet" is moving towards "plastic planet". What do we do about plastic? And how do we do science "combat"
The birth of plastics: from natural materials to the synthetic revolution
The history of human civilization is also a journey towards the use and creation of materials. In the early days, we relied on stone and wood, but they were limited in processing, deformed and perishable. Natural resins (e. G., pine, amber, insect) have such advantages as corrosive resistance, water resistance, etc., but their production is limited and they are resistant to cold and heat changes. Natural cellulose (e. G. Cotton molluscs) is widely used in clothing, but there are problems such as poor grindability, wrinkleability, discolorability, non-acid alkaline。
The term “plastic” is derived from greek and means plastic material. Modern plastics are a large group of synthetic materials consisting of polymers (long chain molecules made up of duplicated small molecular units) and additives。
Plastic invention
01
Nitrate fibre from experimental accident (1845)
The german chemist zenbein accidentally overturned a mixture of nitrate and sulphuric acid during the experiment, setting fire with a cotton apron and cooling it to create a soft and solid material, nitric fibre. It has strong plasticity, but the fatal disadvantage is flammable. Early attempts to use films (“flammated cotton”) and billiards (which would explode) failed。
02
The breakthrough of saijin
Face-to-face tablets are in short supply, and the united states printing worker, john hayert, has tried to add sorghum to the nitro fibres and has succeeded in creating a non-flammable and plasticable material, the racer. This became the first industrial plastic, opening the era of “mocks” and was widely used in carriage windshields, buttons, combs, table tennis, etc. However, the platinum continues to rely on natural fibres as feedstock。
03
Phenol plastics: milestone of complete synthesis (1907)
The u. S. Chemist beckland reacts with phenol and formaldehyde and synthesizes the first completely synthetic plastic - phenol plastic (also known as beckland plastic). It is resistant to heat, insulated, inflammable, and highly plastic, and is rapidly used for telephone casings, plugs and even aerospace parts. In 1979 it produced steel once more than the same period。
04
Niroon: the leap of synthetic fibre (1938)
U. S. D. Announced the synthesis of nylon (66 fibres of polyamide). It is strong (harder than steel), resilient, and very fine, and it is the main engineering plastic that is widely used in the fields of electronics, machinery, transportation, construction and medical care. China was successfully synthesized for the first time in 1958 at the jinzhou chemical plant, under the name "kingu"。
The golden age and the shadow of white pollution
Plastics have quickly infiltrated every aspect of life with their light, durable and inexpensive characteristics, opening its golden age. Global plastic production reached 400 million tons in 2021 and is expected to reach an alarming 1. 2 billion tons by 2060. China is the largest global producer and producer of plastics。
Plastics are used everywhere: from toothbrushes, water cups to electronic product casings, we can hardly avoid contact with plastics; medical devices such as fluid tubes, syringes, etc., greatly facilitate medical treatment; and light-quality high-strength properties make them ideal materials (e. G. Polyurethane foams used in the landing module). However, plastic waste is accompanied by alarming signs. Unep reports that between 1950 and 2017, approximately 9. 2 billion tons of plastics were accumulated globally, with a recovery rate of less than 17 per cent and more than 6 billion tons of plastic waste. In 2022, there were about 63 million tons of waste plastics in china, with a recycling rate of only about 30 per cent. The explosive growth of the internet economy (electricians, out-sale) is an important driver of the surge in plastic waste。
The fear of plastic pollution is not new. A potential crisis was foreseen in 1902 by austrian scientist max susny, the inventor of the plastic bag. He invented light, solid, low-cost film plastic bags, but feared that they would be difficult to digest (degradation) and suggested small-scale piloting, pending identification of degradation methods. However, the market's enthusiasm for plastic bags allowed sponsors to default and mass production to spread quickly. After years of effort, susni was unable to find an effective way to degrade plastics and was deeply blamed for his choice to commit suicide in 1921. Plastics fell from one of the greatest inventions to one of the worst inventions at once, with the core problem being the difficulty of degradation in the natural environment。
The definition of “white pollution” proposed by china refers to the contamination of the ecological environment and landscapes caused by the difficulty of degrading because of waste plastic bags, membranes, disposable dishes, plastic bottles, etc., that have been discarded at random. The degradation of a mineral water bottle in the natural environment is projected to take at least 450 years。
The earth's twilight: a microplastic crisis everywhere
In the twenty-first century, “microplastics” became the hot spot for environmental and health research. Microplastics are plastic fragments with a particle size of less than 5 mm, including nanograde plastics (less than 1 micrometre). They are small, of light quality, difficult to degrade and widely distributed。
Plastic pollution is much more than visual "dirty."
01
Marine plastic trash belt
Five large plastic waste belts (north pacific, south pacific, north atlantic, south atlantic, indian ocean) have been formed in the global oceans, which are brought together by ocean currents. The area of waste belts in the pacific ocean alone is equivalent to the continent of europe. Seabirds, mammals and fish die in large numbers as a result of the misuse or entanglement of plastic。
02
The land has been destroyed
The tibetan plateau, known as poetry and faraway, is also difficult to escape. The 318 can clear more than 2,000 plastic bottles on a single day, the monopoly highway produces about 8 tons of plastic waste on a daily basis and the everest mountain season generates a large amount of plastic waste. During the period of the yaruzzib river, plastic litter belts were formed to pollute water sources。
03
Land membrane residues
High levels of agricultural membrane residues, with a large annual amount of membrane remaining cropland, damage to soil structure and reduced water penetration, may lead to secondary salinization. Additives in the membrane (e. G. Phenyldimethylate, an endocrine disruptor) are released into the soil, threatening ecology and human health。
04
Plastic rain
Microplastics are transported globally through atmospheric circulation and are detected in the rare air of antarctica, the arctic, the tibetan plateau and hawaii。
05
Microplastic intrusion into the human body
Response to the crisis: global “constructive” action
In the face of severe plastic pollution, especially the health concerns posed by microplastics, action is being taken globally:
Awareness raising and personal action
That's the basis. Each person should minimize the use of single-use plastics (self-carried water cups, shopping bags), classify the waste (especially separate recyclable plastics) and never leave it at will. Reduced use is in itself a protection of health (e. G. Less bottled water)。
Corporate responsibility and design innovation
Enterprises need to consider environmental responsibility at the source of product design, develop and use real environmental materials (e. G., fully biodegradable materials, bio-based plastics) and explore patterns of reuse (e. G., circa)。
Policy regulation and government support
Governments need to develop and enforce strict plastic limitation policies (such as china's plastic limitation order, membrane recycling regulations) to support waste classification, recycling systems and research and development of environmentally sound technologies. China is promoting “cities without waste”。
Technology empowerment
Scientists are committed to addressing challenges: the development of fully biodegradable materials (partly degradable), the development of intelligent monitoring systems and the exploration of marine plastic waste removal techniques。
Global governance
Plastic pollution is a cross-border problem. In 2022, the united nations environment assembly adopted a draft resolution to end plastic pollution, working towards an international legally binding instrument (the global plastics convention). Although the negotiations were challenged by divergent interests, such as oil-producing countries (such as the failure to reach agreement at the busan conference in korea at the end of 2024), the process continued. The theme of world environment day or world earth day for three consecutive years, 2023-2025, related to “plastic pollution” (“construction”, “global war plastics”, “termination of plastic pollution”), highlighted its global priority。
Reflection: balancing invention and responsibility
Plastics were once considered “democratized” materials, benefiting the general public. But the profound lessons it brings warn us that any great invention requires a careful assessment of its potential environmental and social risks and a balance of convenience and responsibility。
Historically, the growth and decline of ddt (a pop pesticide) is a precedent. It had done credit for agricultural damage, but its difficult to degrade characteristics and the “triple” hazard of carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic causes it to be banned from production and use in most countries worldwide, including china。
The solution to the plastic problem is not to eliminate plastic — and indeed it is difficult — but to “purify” the way in which we use it as a collective effort of all humankind. What we need is the consensus and action of the “beat plastic pollution”. This is not just about protecting the environment, but about safeguarding our own health and future。
Friends interested in plastic knowledge can expand their reading of the green password for china war plastics
(author of the present paper: fan zhejiang university of science and technology, professor and doctoral mentor, member of the eco-civilization branch of the chinese society of higher education)
This is based on the thursday night school at the zhejiang province kopp federation
