The development of the epidemic has brought plastic products such as masks, protective clothing and goggles into people’s view again. What does plastic mean to the environment, to humans, to the earth, and how should we treat plastics correctly?
Question 1: why use so much plastic instead of other packaging materials?
In ancient times, food lacked effective packaging and had to be eaten or broken. If you can’t beat your prey today, you’ ll have to be hungry. Later, people tried to wrap and store food with leaves, wooden boxes, paper, pottery cans, etc., but it was only convenient for short distance transportation. The invention of glass in the 17 th century made people really have good barriers for packaging. However, the high cost is probably only available to aristocrats. The invention and large-scale use of plastics in the 20th century enabled people to master a truly inexpensive Packaging material with good barrier and easy to form. From replacing glass bottles to later soft packaging bags, plastics ensure that food can be transported in a wide range of low cost, effectively extend the shelf life, reduce the cost of obtaining food, and benefit hundreds of millions of consumers. Today, we consume tens of millions of tons of plastic packaging a year, replaced by glass or paper, not to mention the increase in processing costs, the materials needed are astronomical. For example, if the milk in aseptic bags is replaced by a glass bottle, the shelf life will be shortened from one year to three days, and the weight of the package will increase dozens of times. The energy consumption required during transportation is geometric Number increase. In addition, the manufacture and recycling of glass and metal products requires more energy consumption, and paper manufacturing and recycling requires a large amount of water and chemicals. In addition to solving the problem of food preservation, the emergence of plastic products has also promoted the development of cars, clothing, toys, home appliances and other industries. especially for medical purposes, such as masks, protective clothing, goggles, to protect us from the virus.
Question 2: what’s wrong with plastic?
Plastic is too good to use more and more people, but after the use of it? Due to the lack of corresponding treatment facilities in many places, some of the plastics are discarded in the environment, and even a small part of the plastic garbage island is formed in the depths of the ocean as the river enters the ocean. It seriously endangers our other partners on this earth. Changes in consumer behavior also contribute to the formation of these plastic wastes. Such as takeout, express delivery, these greatly facilitate our lives, but also make the production of waste plastics multiplied. While enjoying the convenience of plastics, we should also Consider where it belongs after use.
Question 3: why has the waste plastic problem not been so concerned in previous years?
There is an industrial chain in global plastic recycling, basically that developed countries classify plastic recycling and sell it to developing countries at low prices, which profit by preparing recycled plastics. However, the Chinese government banned solid waste imports in early 2018, and other developing countries followed suit, so countries had to deal with their own waste plastics.
Then, not every country has these complete infrastructures. As a result, waste plastics and other garbage together nowhere to go, causing some social crisis, but also greatly attracted everyone The concern.
Question 4: how should plastics be recycled?
Some people say that we humans are only porters of nature, and plastics should go back wherever they come from. However, plastics generally take thousands of years to completely degrade. It is irresponsible to leave these problems to future generations. Recycling depends not on responsibility, nor on love, but on industry. A recycling industry that can make people rich, rich and rich is the root of solving the recycling problem.
In addition, do not use waste plastics as garbage. It is a waste to extract oil, break it into monomers, polymerize it into plastics, and then process it into various products.
Question 5: which link is the most important to recycle?
Must be classified!
1. separate plastic from other rubbish first;
2. separate plastics according to different types;
3. cleaning granulation modification for other purposes.
The first step was done by waste collection professionals, and the second was done by a special crushing and cleaning plant. Now there are robots and artificial intelligence plus in-depth learning can directly handle the first and second steps. The future has come. Will you come? As for the third step, welcome to continue to pay attention to us.
Question 6: which waste plastics are most difficult to recycle?
There are many uses of plastics, common mineral water beverage bottles are PET, shampoo bath lotion HDPE bottles, are single materials, easy to recycle. Soft packaging such as detergent, snacks, rice bags, based on barrier and mechanical requirements, often contain PET, nylon and PE and other materials, they are incompatible, so not easy to recycle.
Question 7: how can soft packaging be easily recycled?
Flexible packaging, which is mostly multilayered and contains plastics of different materials, is the most difficult to recycle because these different plastics are incompatible with each other.
In terms of packaging design, a single material is the most conducive to recycling.
CEFLEX in Europe and APR in the United States have drawn up the corresponding standards, and some industry associations in China are also working on the relevant standards.
In addition, chemical recycling is also a concern.
Post time: Aug-14-2020