Post on November 5 2009 (permalink) -edithistorydelete
Created on Thursday, 11/05/2009 8:41 PM by LIU LIBIN DCP/FT
I believed that every invention (cars,light bulbs, books, PLASTICS etc) by mankind is not perfect. In perfection, i meant that these inventions are not 100% environmental friendly or will eventually lead to environmentally unfriendliness.
However, like every other inventions, their advantages definitely outweighs the disadvantages and therefore, we tend to turn a blind eye over these disadvantages until it finally comes back to haunt us with potential environmental issues, and then we start to rack our brains for solutions at the very last minute.
Irony isn't it?
Like how my classmates have mentioned, polymer is everywhere. it is cheap to manufacture, lightweight and definitely more durable than any material known to mankind. It is definitely the first and the best choice to the consumer.
However, when these material fails to meet our criteria in every specific application(material failure) , where should we throw this un-used/scrap plastics to? We could dump them in the oceans, in a quarry. But soon, we will run out of land to dump these material.(plastics are non-biodegradable). we cant burn these plastics away as it releases toxic fumes to the environment. So what more?
Recycling however is possible but expensive. although the recycling methods are still at baby stage, it is a small step to ensure that polymer stays environmentally friendly and yet still meet the needs of the consumer if everyone starts to do their part in reducing the production un-used plastics, and re-using plastics.
below is a link for a few baby recycling methods scientist have came up with. It is nothing close to amazing, but as technology improves i believe that a cheaper and a more effective way to recycle plastics can be found and be applied.
http://www.lotfi.net/recycle/plastic.html#1n3
conclusion: plastic aren't bad(in general). they are the birth of mankind's excitement for knowledge. and sometimes we need to make mistakes, to learn, to rectify and to prevent the problem from happening as we go along.
