What kind of garbage is a plastic bag? Plastic bags have brought a lot of convenience to our life, but with the popularization of waste classification, many people can't tell what waste plastic bags belong to. Let's learn about it
What kind of garbage is a plastic bag
Plastic bags are dry garbage.
Wet waste refers to perishable waste, usually kitchen waste. The plastic bag is not easy to rot and degrade. It is dry waste.
Note that just because plastic bags are dry garbage, when throwing garbage, you should break the garbage bags, put the wet garbage in the wet garbage can, and then put the plastic bags in the dry garbage can.
Plastic bags are non recyclable waste
Disposable plastic bags are made of polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride. Some of them also contain plasticizers, phthalates and other environmental hormones. In case of high temperature, they will react chemically, resulting in substances harmful to human body. Phthalates have a serious impact on human reproductive health and immune function. Moreover, it is difficult to remove residues or pollutants on waste plastic bags. If they contain excessive bacteria or carcinogens, they cannot be recycled.
Why can waste plastics be recycled but plastic bags can't
As we know, recyclable waste is mainly waste plastic, glass, metal, paper and cloth. So why aren't plastic bags in recyclable waste.
In theory, plastic bags can be recycled. Many supermarket shopping bags are printed with recyclable signs! Without recycling, it is difficult to recycle, mainly considering economic benefits and other factors.
Plastics can be divided into thermoplastic and thermosetting plastics according to their processing properties. The difference between thermosetting and thermoplastic plastics is like ceramics and glass. One can not melt after heating, and the other can melt after heating. This feature enables thermoplastic plastics to be simply reused. Recycled plastics are mainly thermoplastic plastics, such as PVC, PMMA, PS, PA, PE, PP, ABS, POM, PC, PPO, PPS, etc.
Degradable plastics are divided into: photodegradable plastics (add photosensitizer into the plastics to gradually decompose the plastics under sunlight); Biodegradable plastics (can be completely decomposed into low molecular compounds under the action of natural microorganisms such as bacteria, molds and algae); Water degradable plastics (water absorbent substances are added to plastics, which can be dissolved when discarded in water after use. It is mainly used for medical and sanitary appliances to facilitate destruction and disinfection)
At present, most plastic bags on the market are non degradable thermoplastic (degradable and will not be reused!), which can be recycled.
However, at present, the unclear classification of domestic waste (only recyclable and non recyclable classification is far from enough), low recycling efficiency (low and easy availability of plastic bag raw materials and high recycling cost) and other factors make the progress of recycling difficult. Most of them are mixed with domestic waste for landfill or incineration.
Plastic bag waste treatment method
Plastic bags are suitable for landfill, composting and incineration.
Plastic bag pollution is also called white pollution. White pollution is a disposable plastic package that is difficult to degrade. For example, disposable foam tableware as well as our commonly used plastic bags, etc., it is very serious environmental pollution, buried in the soil is difficult to decompose, will lead to soil capacity.
If burned, it will cause air pollution. Therefore, China has been advocating that plastic bags should not be used and cloth bags should be used more.
Harm of plastic bags to the environment
1. The raw materials of plastic bags are high molecular compounds, which have stable structure and are not easy to be degraded by natural microorganisms. The natural decay of non degradable plastic bags takes more than 200 years. If the waste plastic bags are not recycled, they will be mixed in the land, resulting in soil hardening, affecting the absorption of nutrients and water by crops, resulting in crop yield reduction.
2. Waste plastic bags discarded on land and water will be swallowed by animals and fish as food, resulting in the death of animals and fish or affecting their growth.
3. It seriously pollutes environmental sanitation and increases the workload of sanitation workers. In windy weather every day, plastic bags are flying all over the sky. Some are hung on the treetops and some on electric wires. It takes time, effort and danger to remove them. If it is burned at will, it will emit toxic gases, pollute the air and affect people's health.
4. The consumption of non renewable energy resources is huge. It is understood that the use of plastic bags in China consumes about 1.6 million tons of plastic every year, and the production of plastic bags in China consumes more than 4.8 million tons of oil every year. The excessive use of plastic bags will have a negative impact and pressure on China's energy resources and environment. At present, the rising international oil price is bound to promote China's industrial and agricultural production costs and prices, which is extremely unfavorable to the country and the people's livelihood.
5. Seriously endangering human health. PVC monomer, the main component of plastics, will damage human nervous system, liver and kidney after being absorbed; When plastics burn, the smoke released contains a large number of carcinogenic compounds.