Is life possible without plastic? : (15/08/2022)

Is it possible to live without plastic? That is the question, and the answer is most likely no right now.

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The packaging industry is currently the largest consumer of new plastic particles; however, we also use plastic in much more sustainable ways, such as in our buildings, transportation, and other critical infrastructure. Our building transport furniture phones include it. Clothing and a variety of other items are also included in our furniture appliances. Cars, pets, phones, clothing, and countless other everyday items make a plastic-free world a pipe dream.

However, imagining how our lives would change if we suddenly lost access to plastic can assist us in determining how to build a new, more sustainable relationship with it. For thousands of years, humans have been like plastic- It was made from the resin exuded by leaky insects using materials such as shellac.

The first plastic made from fossil fuels was Bakelite' invented in 1907- It was not until It is also used in hospitals for gloves tubes' syringes blood bags and tubes etc. It wasn't until World War II that synthetic plastics for uses other than the military were fully developed. The hospital system cannot function without plastic.

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It is used in glove tubes, syringes, blood bags, and sample tubes, among other things. Some surgeons argue that hospitals use too much single-use plastic, but many plastic medical items are indispensable, and without them, lives could be lost. Some commonplace plastic items are also critical for health protection. Face masks, including plastic surgical masks and reusable cloth masks, have been critical in reducing the spread of Covid 19.

We use packaging to protect food from damage in transit and preserve it long enough to reach supermarket shelves; but we also use it for communication and marketing- That it is now -impossible to completely separate (plastics) in our system.

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Not only will consumers need to change their habits, but supermarket supply chains will also need to change because they have become accustomed to selling packaged goods- While highly perishable items such as green beans, which have long journeys between farm and supermarket, will sit in fields unpicked- If we can solve these supply chain issues, fruits and vegetables will be available for purchase, but we will have to shop more frequently- Cucumbers and potatoes, on the other hand, appear to be unaffected by plastic, according to research. People will only buy what they need if fruits and vegetables are sold in bulk, which reduces food waste. We will not waste tomatoes and fruit tins because they have food safety issues- has a plastic inner coat, so we put dry pulses in paper bags

Replacing plastic packaging with something else will also have an environmental impact. Glass has some advantages over plastic, such as being infinitely recyclable. A liter glass bottle can weigh up to 800 grams compared to 40 grams of plastic. As a result, glass bottles have a higher overall environmental impact than plastic containers for drinks such as milk and fruit juice.

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However, in some ways, changing food packaging will be the easy part. For example, while you can buy milk in a glass bottle, the dairy industry uses plastic tubing to transport the milk from the cow to the bottle. Without plastic, industrial agriculture would appear impossible. Instead, we need small food chains such as farm shops or community-supported enterprises.

However, with nearly half of the world's population living in cities, this will necessitate significant changes in where and how we grow food. Living without plastic will also necessitate changes in the way we dress. Before synthetic plastics became common, shoes were often made of leather- but today, each of us owns several pairs- experts say we couldn't afford leather shoes for everyone on the planet- experts say there would be problems in a world without plastic; if we were to take care of our health- avoid its harmful effects.