Introduction
Climate change is one of the most pressing environmental challenges, we are facing in this century. To solve this problem, we have to understand the causes of it. Burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial development have already taken our attention for causing climate change and global warming. But, there is another culprit that is also contributing to this problem and is not given attention and is overlooked which is plastics. It exacerbates and amplifies the global warming. Plastics have diffused in our life and we don’t realize it and we don’t even think about it. From the process of manufacturing plastic to its use and until its disposal and even after disposal, It is contributing to global warming and making it difficult to combat climate change.
Plastics have contaminated all over the world including water, air, soil, land, plants, marine life (read more about ocean pollution), ice, salts, vegetables, fruits, milk, honey, grasses, even human placenta, human blood, human urine, and faces and is affecting our life in every possible destructive way. In addition to all this contamination and being invisible culprit, one of its impacts includes the enhancement of global warming and climate change. In this blog, we are going to discuss and try to make a connection between the impacts of plastic pollution and the boosting of global warming.
Supremacy of plastics
People use plastic a lot in daily life due to its cheapness, durability, portability, ease of handling, convenience, and versatility. Plastic has been manufactured, consumed, and disposed of a lot and we cannot imagine our lives without using plastic products. Since 1950 plastic production has increased almost 239 times and in the year 2018, around 359 million tones of plastic is produced and almost 90% is disposed of in oceans affecting marine life and affecting environment. The plastic that we dump in the ocean or the river or on the landfills just doesn’t disappear in the thin year it gets broken down into smaller particles with time and with the effect of certain environmental factors like light, air, water tides, etc. Smaller particles are even more dangerous than the bigger ones and are called microplastics. Microplastics prevail in the environment by two sources one is primary microplastics which are made in the size of microns and are used in the cosmetic industry like scrubbers etc. Another is secondary microplastic these are formed due to the decomposition or breaking of the bigger plastic materials. So there are two sources of microplastic occurrences in the ocean.
How Plastic Affects Climate
There are multiple ways through which plastic pollution causes environmental impacts some are direct and some are indirect. Similarly, both direct and indirect ways of plastic pollution exacerbating climate change are equally significant. Following are the ways through which global warming is enhanced.
Direct ways enhancing Global warming
Manufacturing of plastics
To manufacture plastic, around 6% of crude oil is consumed globally. Utilization of furnace oil, emits greenhouse gases (GHGs), especially methane CH4 and carbon dioxide CO2 which account for around 1.8 billion metric tons annually. Similarly, Plastic is a product that is made using fossil fuels. The manufacturing of plastics is directly proportional to the burning of fossil fuels. Hence plastic production is contributing to global warming.
Earth’s natural System damage
Plastic deteriorates and contaminates natural ecosystems like water and soil. Plastic pollution causes direct harm to terrestrial and marine ecosystems which affects and thus affects the carbon sinking ability of those ecosystems. Sequestration of carbon eventually reduces and it becomes available in the environment and acts as greenhouse gases (GHGs) which will absorb more heat in the environment and thus contribute to global warming.
Microplastics as global warmer
Plastic decomposes into smaller particles called microplastics. These microplastics can be transported into distant remote areas and can also be dispersed in the atmosphere and account for absorbing more radiation in the atmosphere
Indirect ways enhancing Global warming
Plastic pollution is also known for its connection with global warming indirectly but is overlooked. It cannot be neglected and needs to be discussed and considered.
Plastic transportation
Collecting raw material to produce plastics, to reach the market and then to dump it Plastics has to be transported. In this way fossil fuel is burned and greenhouse gases are generated in the atmosphere which induces the global warming.
Plastic waste burning
When plastic is dumped on landfill sites and then burned to get rid of causes GHGs in the local air and environment.
Effected water flow
The dumped plastic in rivers or lakes or other natural water bodies can affect the natural flow of water and when water flow is affected it may lead to rivers or lakes becoming static or stagnant and the decomposition of organic matter in static water bodies is higher. As a result, water bodies release more gases like methane and other heat-absorbing molecules.
Effected food products
Plastic pollution has contaminated many food products, agricultural lands, agricultural soil, and water which results in a lowered yield of production and increases the pressure on clearing forests to make more agricultural land to meet the requirements of the increasing population. Deforestation is a great sink of carbon and clearing of forests leads to increased global warming.
Economic instability
Recycling of plastics only accounts for 9%, all of the remaining plastic waste needs to be incinerated or disposed of. The cleanup cost of plastic, reclamation of plastic wastelands, spending on health issues caused by plastics, on marine life, plants, and humans are higher and divert the finances and funds that are supposed to be used on combating climate change.
Actions to be taken
- Discourage single-use plastic.
- Adopting sustainable alternatives to plastics.
- Proper waste management.
- Using renewable energy for the manufacturing and transportation of plastics.
- Research and innovate to substitute plastic material with something less environmentally polluting and safe material.
- The stringent policy should be adopted by the government and should impose a complete ban on single-use plastics. States should also collaborate with the industries and other stakeholders to reduce the use and manufacturing of plastics.
Conclusion
Plastic does affect climate change or global warming directly and indirectly. They emit greenhouse gases directly upon burning and also contribute to climate change indirectly. Discouraging single-use plastic is crucial since after the COVID pandemic, the trend of using single-use plastics has increased up to 300% which needs to be stopped. Promoting responsible and sustainable plastic waste management is key to decreasing plastic pollution’s impact on global warming and climate change.
