Plastic Bags In a 1-2 page paper, using APA-style formatting, discuss three thin
ID: 114547 • Letter: P
Question
Plastic Bags
In a 1-2 page paper, using APA-style formatting, discuss three things you learned from the slide presentation on plastic bags? If you were given the opportunity to address the public-at-large, what would be your recommendation regarding the use of plastic bags? In your closing remarks, include a short catchy phase, slogan, poem, or any other creative statement to emphasize your point of view.
NOTE: The slide show was on plastic bags, how they are made, and the damage they do to our environment and the wild life on land and in the sea. I tried to upload the slide show, then as a word doc, and as a jpeg but no option would allow me to upload the file. you will have to find information else where on plastic bags .
Explanation / Answer
Plastics are derived from organic products. The materials used in the production of plastics are natural products such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and, of course, crude oil. The production of plastic begins with a distillation process in an oil refinery
The distillation process involves the separation of heavy crude oil into lighter groups called fractions. Each fraction is a mixture of hydrocarbon chains (chemical compounds made up of carbon and hydrogen), which differ in terms of the size and structure of their molecules. One of these fractions, naphtha, is the crucial element for the production of plastics.
The two major processes used to produce plastics are called polymerisation and polycondensation, and they both require specific catalysts. Condensation reaction, of a monomer having two functional groups, which leads to the formation of a polymer (a polycondensate) while polymerization is the chemical process, normally with the aid of a catalyst, to form a polymer by bonding together multiple identical units . Environmentally, plastic is a growing disaster. Most plastics are made from petroleum or natural gas, non-renewable resources extracted and processed using energy-intensive techniques that destroy fragile ecosystems.
The manufacture of plastic, as well as its destruction by incineration, pollutes air, land and water and exposes workers to toxic chemicals, including carcinogens.
Plastic packaging – especially the ubiquitous plastic bag – is a significant source of landfill waste and is regularly eaten by numerous marine and land animals, to fatal consequences. Synthetic plastic does not biodegrade. It just sits and accumulates in landfills or pollutes the environment. Plastics have become a municipal waste nightmare, prompting local governments all over the world to implement plastic bag, and increasingly polystyrene (styrofoam), bans.
Plastic pollution may not even be visible to the naked eye as research is showing that microscopic plastic particles are present in the air at various locations throughout the world and in all major oceans. Plastic is now ubiquitous in our terrestrial, aquatic and airborne environments - that is, it's everywhere.