Mar 19th, 2020 by Admin

Six Common Myths About Plastic Pollution Busted

We have seen so many facts and statistics about plastic pollution in the past few years. Every year, there are a few so-called facts released that stump the public and become one of those stats that keeps getting repeated.

As a company who has been recycling plastic wastes from all around the world, we have come across such several ‘facts’ that aren’t simply true. Plastics are everywhere around the world and it is impossible to gather data from every single area in the world to create an accurate estimate of anything related to plastic.

That’s why, in this blog, we will address some of these common myths about plastic recycling and plastic pollution.

Breaking 6 Popular Myths About Plastic

These are some of the commonly thrown around myths surrounding plastic pollution and recycling plastic waste. Let’s bust some of these myths in this blog.

Myth #1: You can see the plastics floating on the ocean.

Many articles and studies that we read online make it sound like the ocean area is filled with huge amounts of plastics swivelling around on the ocean’s surface.

But it’s far from true. Though it can be a good, scary way to educate the public about the growing threat of plastics, it isn’t the real case. The majority of the plastics present in the ocean aren’t the plastic covers, plastic bottles and other big items of plastics. It’s the small particles of the plastics present mixed with the water and aren’t visible to the naked eye. These are plastics that cannot be removed easily and can only be seen when it’s removed with a net made for catching the plankton.

These microplastics cannot be decomposed easily as plastics were meant to stay on forever and therefore, will be eaten by aquatic life. The chemicals in the plastics will get its way into the body of the aquatic organisms and will eventually find its way in the food chain and back to the humans.

Myth #2: It takes around 450 years for the plastics to break down.

As we saw earlier, plastics were meant to be around for a very long time and no one actually knows how long. The plastics were only invented around 150 years ago and therefore, there is no proven way to identify the number of years it will take for the plastics to break down.

Only if we have been using plastics for 450 years, we can say for sure that it practically takes this long to break down. In fact, there has been no research on this popular myth that many of us keep quoting around.

Some scientists even say that the plastics do not just break down easily by the time it reaches the age of 450 years or so. The life of plastics can be hundreds or even thousands of years based on the elements with which the plastics were made. So, we can never say for sure about how long it will take for the plastics to decompose unless we have seen it happen.

Myth #3: The plastic present in the ocean can be seen from space!

Many talk about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where a huge volume of plastic has accumulated to become one large mass. Well, this is another gimmick to educate the public about the alarming rates in which we are using plastics. Since the plastics in the oceans are in its microforms, you cannot see the plastics visible on the surface of the ocean when you are travelling in it, let alone see it from space!

Though the plastic rubbish thrown into the sea is in its whole form, it breaks into microparticles of plastic that keeps swimming around in the ocean, eaten by the aquatic animals and keeps circulating back in the chain.

Myth #4: Only some plastics can be recycled.

The specific recycling bins may have certain rules about the types of plastics it can recycle. But, every single plastic created can be recycled. It’s just that the process of recycling plastics of different types can change based on its physical and chemical compositions.

The origin of this myth about only some plastics can be recycled are mostly from the recycling bins that are picky on the plastics they get. They need to sort between the different types of plastics before they feed into the recycling machines. However, there are now new technologies released that help with sorting the plastics before recycling and we hope that this myth fades away with time.

Myth #5: The plastics present in the ocean are majorly from the dumpings of industries and ships.

While there is a significant contribution to the plastic dumped by the industries and carrier ships in the oceans, the top contribution is by us in the form of single-use plastics. Most of the plastics that are present in the oceans come from the items that we use every single day like plastic caps of containers, plastic bottles, plastic containers, plastic wrapping, plastic covers and so on.

So, it’s not just the industries who are to blame for the plastic pollution in the water bodies. We, as the common public, are more to blame for it.

Myth #6: Recycling alone is the solution to reducing plastic pollution.

Plastic recycle alone isn’t the solution to deal with the problem of plastic pollution. It’s the only way to manage the already created plastics in the world lying around in dumps and water bodies. Recycling is the answer to the problem of plastics that we have already used. But the only way to deal with the rising issue of plastic pollution is to stop using plastic.

Only when we stop using any plastic items, we can make a dent in the amount of plastic pollution in the world. The plastic waste isn’t reducing any sooner and the more we use plastics, the more it gets dumped in the form of waste. Even using recycled plastic items will keep the manufacturing of plastic items alive. Until unless the usage of plastics is stopped, there is no other way to put an end to this alarming threat plaguing the earth.

At Plastic Collectors, we are doing our bit in reducing the amount of plastic waste on the earth. We have created a system of plastic collection and selling it to the recycling centres to get rid of the waste on land and water bodies. If you want to know more about how we work, check our website now.