The Side Effects Of Plastic On Our Environment

As a synthetic material composed of various organic polymers, plastic is a widely used material. Since it can be easily shaped before setting, plastic is a practical favorite amongst businesses. However, this means that the impact of plastic on our environment is perhaps more concerning than other materials. So, are you actually aware of the side effects of the materials you are utilizing every single day? Read on to find out more.

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Our Entire Environment Is Being Consumed By Plastic

You may have noticed that plastic materials can be found almost everywhere, with runoffs and humans dumping rubbish, even allowing the plastic to reach the depths of our oceans. Floating plastic can even form huge garbage patches in the middle of the world’s largest oceans, kilometers away from our mainland. Moving away from water being consumed, animals are being consumed by plastic too. Plastic has, before now, been found in the guts of seabirds, whales, and sea turtles. At the alarming rate at which plastic is building up in our oceans, these issues are set to go even worse.

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The Harmful Impact Of Fracking

As one of the principal products of fracking, fossil fuels are removed from rock formations to manufacture plastics. These plastics are often easily discarded after just one single use. Fracking has a hugely negative impact on our environment. It pollutes soil, air, and water with toxins, triggers underground cavities which collapse into the formation of sinkholes, and increases pressure in underground rock formations. This destabilizes the rocks, creating earthquakes, showing how devastating the process of making plastic can be.

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Plastic Can Kill

Aside from causing harm to humans, plastic can also inflict damage on our wildlife. These effects are derived from eating or becoming entangled in plastic debris. With increasing amounts of plastic being put into our environment, we can expect this harm to increase. With hundreds of thousands of plastic floating around the world’s oceans, marine wildlife is particularly threatened, even prompting the extinction of species.

Most plastics are not biodegradable or digestible. This means that large plastics break down into little fragments, which are easier for animals to consume. This leads to malnutrition, blockage, and poisoning in species, especially from harmful chemicals within the material. Species often consume plastic debris through detecting this chemical, which they sometimes mistake for an attractive lunch.

Furthermore, not even microscopic animals can avoid the harm of consuming plastic. Indeed, zooplankton can consume microscopic bits of plastic. These plastics can cause energy deficiencies, reduced feeding, and even death.

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Plastic Can Contribute To Landfill Sites

Many plastics are non-recyclable. Even those which are recyclable are often not recycled when they are supposed to be. Compostable and biodegradable plastics can be reduced by composts to their chemical components. Other plastics are only able to be successfully compostable by special facilities following their separation from other plastics, which cannot be broken down. However, people are often confused as to which plastics are non-biodegradable and which are biodegradable, causing some plastics to end up in the wrong places.

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Key Takeaways

There are many things that businesses and marketers can take away from the devastating impact that plastics pose on our environment. For starters, using plastic could be depleting your audience base. Now, environmentally-conscious customers are boycotting brands that harm our environment, meaning that companies using heavy amounts of harmful plastic are at risk of a reduced range of buyers.

Secondly, you can learn that sustainable approaches are one of the keys to creating a successful business. Sustainable methods are becoming more and more attractive to consumer markets and could earn you a lot of money.

Thirdly, you can back your brand with an incredibly strong message by boycotting the use of plastic. By showing that your business cares about the environment, customers will look to your brand as one which can lead the competition. With steadily increasing competitiveness within markets, it is time to inject more meaning into your brand.

This can help you look after your business’ profits and success and our ecosystem. Taking plastic out of your organization’s practices could be the answer you’ve been looking for as a business person or marketer.