Introduction:

Our planet earth is unique in its creation. It possesses life, water, atmosphere, and stability like no other planet in the universe. Scientists have found several Earth-like planets revolving around the stars, but they were not capable of sustaining the stability which is vital for life. Our solar system got into existence due to the big bang explosion, an explosion that created this planetary arrangement. All set of events that happened to the earth made it the way it is. Planet Jupiter acts as a defender and protects us from meteors and other outer bodies with its gravitational forces. Our moon also plays a critical role in stabilizing Earth’s rotation in its axis. We are lucky to live on planet earth which happens to maintain an optimum distance from the sun, such that if it had been any closer, we would have been burnt or frozen to death in case we were further away from our present orbit.

Earth has its core-driven magnetic field which can hold up our atmosphere to protect us from outer space bodies, giving us promising life-supporting air. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Right now, on earth, we have 8.7 million species and we the humans are one of them. Homo sapiens means we have been evolved from monkey species over a passage of millions of years. Moreover, homo sapiens means wise man. But here is the contradictory part; wise species can’t possibly destroy their planet. Humanity is about 140,000 years old.

If we consider life on earth for 24 hours, we are here for only 3 seconds. If we put the age on mankind in perspective, setting the age on mankind as 10 minutes, the industrial revolution just happened 1 second ago. In this very 1 second, we have not only emitted an uncontrollable amount of pollutants in the air, but also, we have thrown over 4 trillion pieces of plastics on earth. In just 1 second, we failed to consider thinking wisely because wisdom always believes in long-term sustainable progress.

Using our intelligent minds, we have built large cities. We have been to the moon as well. We have also successfully created artificial robots that can do complex things, and we have created plastics. Plastic was initially made in harmony with the environment, but now it is spoiling it.

In 1 second, we have shown our intelligence, brilliance, and everything but wisdom. In a mere period of one second, we have adversely affected every species that inhabit our earth. Unfortunately, we have brought hundreds of species towards the brink of extinction. And we can’t call it wisdom. This is the opposite.

In 1 second, we have disturbed the food chains and stability of oceans. In 1 second, we have increased the temperature all over the globe. In one second, we have polluted almost all of the air particles in the earth atmosphere. In one second, we have changed courses of rivers on earth.

Any individual can understand that in a split of a second, we have already done enough damage and now is the time to change.

Explore ahead how are we affecting the planet with one of our own greatest invention ever, plastic.

Chapter: Impact of plastics on oceanic wildlife
We have witnessed that plastic pollution has direct and drastic effects on the already suffering environment of the globe and the component which covers 75% of the globe, i.e., the oceans and life beneath are the most affected ones among the whole biosphere. The marine wildlife holds amazingly long and diverse food chains. Their food chain begins from microscopic organisms and corals to whales and sharks. Oceans hold one of the richest diversity of species of fish and other complex organisms. It is quite delightful to observe the variety, but nowadays all kinds of organisms are suffering by the hands of plastics.
We come across many heartbreaking tweets and news showing whale with a bucket stuck to its mouth or whale with tons of plastic inside it. It is estimated that 700 species may go into extinction because of plastic pollution. Sea birds and turtles are among those who are most affected. Currently, 267 species worldwide are affected, including 84% of sea turtles and 44% of sea birds
Most of the animals are affected due to ingestion of plastic and entangling in fishing nets, gears. Plastic is getting accumulated in the marine environment, and now we can observe huge plastic patches floating in oceans and wastes on beautiful beaches.
Not only big sized plastics are the problem. Microplastics and microfibers make up as much as 85% of plastic pollution found on shorelines around the world. Plastic waste in the oceans breaks down into smaller pieces due to UV light degradation, and in this process, they release harmful toxic chemicals that are used to harden them and those chemicals contaminate the water and thus making it acidic. This acidification causes the death of corals; corals die which in turn cause disappearance of fish and so top predators like whales and sharks starve. Thus, the whole food chain is devastated, and in many such places in the ocean, there is no sign of food chains where there were beautiful corals and fishes once.
Only protective regions have healthy growth in wildlife, and so there must be more and more protected areas over 1/3rd of the oceans to increases the chances of recovering wildlife.
Plastics can poison animals and plants and also cause genetic problems. Once the toxins are concentrated in the tissue of creature, toxic content can propagate in their food chain easily. Turtles, seabirds, fishes, and other animals ingest the plastic pieces. They can’t digest plastics, and so there is no space for actual food, and so they die of malnutrition. Most of the seabirds feed plastic to their chicks mistaken as food and study found that 98% of the chicks sampled had ingested plastic. Various whale species were found dead due to plastic consumption. In 2004, a Cuvier’s beaked whale was found with tightly packed black plastic bags blocking the entrance to its stomach.
.Not only the organisms inhabiting the shores and shallow water levels are getting affected, but the species in the deepest of oceans are also found to be affected by this deleterious scenario. Recent studies from a team who captures tiny creatures from the deep sea beds surprisingly found plastics in their digestive system and microfibers in all the samples. Plastic nets and fishing gears are harming deep-sea corals resulting in the disappearance of half of those species. From now on, if we make a strong resolve to stop littering right now, even then it would require centuries to grow them fully.
Single-time used plastics from land sources are adding plastic directly to the oceans. On average, 8 million metrics tons of plastic that enter the ocean every year, a quarter of waste comes from the run-off of rivers.
Many countries dump waste directly into the oceans and this waste range from sewage and radioactive materials to plastics and other petroleum products. Also sometimes in natural disasters, plastic can move quickly into the oceans. Cargo ships and cruise also sometimes dump their wastage in oceans and sometimes cargo ships can lose their shipping containers in oceans.
Also, fishing industries add many fishing nets and gears into the oceans which can seriously harm wildlife.
Thus there are many ways plastic can enter in oceans. Studies estimate there are now 15 – 51 trillion pieces of plastic in oceans and not even one square mile of Surface Ocean anywhere on the earth is free from plastic.

Chapter: E waste

Electronics waste or e-waste is the waste of discarded electrical or electronic devices. Some of the e-waste products are discarded, computers, mobiles, laptops, etc. E-waste is considered a big issue because of its adverse effects on the environment. Electronic wastes are very helpful if they can be reused. Due to advancement in technology at high speeds, the destiny of used phones is landfill after a few years of use. Some computer parts can be reused in new computer products, and some other parts can be reduced to metals that can be reused in several other applications like construction and jewelry. Some of the mainstream e-waste materials are resins, fiberglass, PCBs, PVC, thermosetting plastics, lead, tin, aluminum, etc.

E-waste has a great impact on our environment because of its large quantity and also because of what is done to them. Even if nothing is done to them like burning, this waste is very harmful. Electronics components like CPU contain harmful elements such as lead (used for soldering), cadmium, and beryllium or brominated flame retardants. These harmful materials pollute our soil and water. According to a study in Ghana, because of e-waste presence of lead in soil was as high as 18,125 ppm. Lead is a very harmful element for plants and animals. However, Ghana is the place where most of the e-waste in the world is sent to be burned. E-waste landfills burn electronic components, and due to this activity, toxic chemicals like lead dioxins and furans are released in the atmosphere. This also affects the health of employees who work in the plant.

In countries like Ghana, the employees are children who are suffering from poverty. They have no other option but to burn the waste to get money. They don't know how harmful burning of e-waste can affect their health. They work there for money on the cost of spoiling their whole life.

We still have got several opportunities to perform good things with e-waste. We can reuse the material and benefit poor people by giving them this low-cost technology who can't afford to buy a brand-new gadget. We can grant them access to these low-cost electronics so that they get the benefit. We can also save a lot of energy which is used to recycle them and also stop the release of harmful chemicals in the air. We can also give a chance to repairing industries so that they may grow and create employment in that field.

The problem of e-waste is huge and is getting worse day by day. More than 100 million computers are thrown away in the USA, and less than 20% of this waste is recycled and as a result of which 60 million metric tons of e-waste enters the landfill every year. Therefore, the problem of e-waste is a rising threat to our environment. It also has an impact on innocent children and workers from poor countries who are forced to practice things like plastic burning to earn. Hence, as a consumer, this is our responsibility to reuse our gadgets as long as we can and repair them as long as it is possible.

Chapter: Bioplastics

Bioplastics are the plastics which are made from renewable biomass source such as vegetable fats/oils, corn, starch, food waste, etc. Bioplastics can also be made from agricultural byproducts. Bioplastics are trending, and entrepreneurs have big opportunities in this market. Bioplastics manufacturers have the vision to stop plastic pollution. Bioplastics seem like a potential alternative as we have produced 8 trillion pounds of plastic till now and 8 billion pounds of plastics are in oceans. It is found in almost all animals and birds and is even found in your body.

Bioplastics sound quite an earth-friendly name because of the bio as a prefix. Bioplastics are easy to use plastics and a single-use item that feels like plastic but degradable. This eliminates the guilt of plastic as biodegradability makes bioplastic a strong contender for fighting the plastic problem. Bioplastics have less carbon footprint as compared to plastic made from petroleum products. So, you benefit from the plastic with less carbon in the environment. Sounds satisfying! But the process is a bit complicated.

Bioplastics are made from plants like corn or sugarcane. This plant is converted into PLA (Polylactic acids) or PHAs (Polyhydroxyalkanoates) and plastic are prepared out of them. PLA plastic finds its application in food packaging, and PHA plastic is commonly used in medical devices.

Several studies have been done regarding environmental issues associated with growing plants that are used to get bioplastics. Using corn for preparing plastic and not for food creates mismanagement in this food-scarce world. Also, for the growth of plants, fertilizers are used which practice has proved to be polluting waterways. However, the sources of bioplastic are renewable, and it can be grown all over the world, but it has to be considered that how resources should be allocated in the current world.

Bioplastics have many benefits, but they can prove to be fruitful only if we begin considering subjects like where the crop is grown, how much land is used, and how much resources it needs.

Bioplastics have many other faces. Bioplastics remain biodegradable if and only if certain types of bacteria are there to eat that plastic. In the absence of this particular bacteria type, bioplastics are as bad as plastic. They also remain there for thousands of years.

There is something that has become news on the Internet in some past months, and it is dissolvable plastic. I have seen videos on Instagram in which the plastic gets dissolved in water. After doing research, I found that dissolvable plastic, when dipped in water, will break down into small pieces instantly. Here, the problem is not at all minimized as there is still plastic (microplastics) in that water, and if this water is thrown, the environment will get equally polluted as a plastic polyethylene

There is another kind of dissolvable plastic which is made of cellulose, and so we shall see the advantages and disadvantages of bioplastics to get to know this plastic better.

When the crop of corn is cultivated on a large scale for the production of bioplastics, it would be a waste of land, water, food, and energy as these bioplastics will not degrade on their own and I consider it to be one of the biggest disadvantages if the bioplastic in the ocean doesn’t degrade when it is no different from industrial plastics. Researchers are trying to build plastics that can recycle on their own and possess properties of plastic. There is good hope that in the future, we might do it!

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