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Disadvantages of Plastic Waste

The article discusses the dangers of plastic pollution, highlighting that while plastics are versatile and widely used, they pose significant environmental challenges due to their non-biodegradable nature. Environmental scientist Dr. Ros Gaia emphasizes the need for a radical shift in how we use and recycle plastics, as current recycling practices are inadequate and a large amount of plastic waste ends up in landfills and oceans. Without immediate action, the situation could worsen, leading to a future where plastic waste overwhelms the environment.

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6 views1 page

Disadvantages of Plastic Waste

The article discusses the dangers of plastic pollution, highlighting that while plastics are versatile and widely used, they pose significant environmental challenges due to their non-biodegradable nature. Environmental scientist Dr. Ros Gaia emphasizes the need for a radical shift in how we use and recycle plastics, as current recycling practices are inadequate and a large amount of plastic waste ends up in landfills and oceans. Without immediate action, the situation could worsen, leading to a future where plastic waste overwhelms the environment.

Uploaded by

tejhuu
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

2

Read Text A, and then answer Questions 1(a)–(e) on the question paper.

Text A: The problem with plastics

This article warns of the dangers of plastics.

Plastics are wonder materials: adaptable and durable. We produce and use more
plastics than we do almost any other man-made materials, apart from steel, cement
and brick. Scientists calculate the total plastic ever made as 8.3 billion tonnes – as
heavy as one billion elephants – an astonishing mass of material.

Mass-manufacturing of plastics began in the 1950s. Plastics are now all around us, in 5
everything from food wrapping to aeroplane parts and flame retardants. It is precisely
plastics’ amazing qualities that present a growing problem.

‘We’re rapidly heading towards “Planet Plastic”. If we don’t want to live in that kind of
world we have to rethink how we use materials, particularly plastic,’ explains
environmental scientist, Dr Ros Gaia. ‘None of the commonly used plastics are 10
biodegradable. You can permanently dispose of plastic waste by incinerating it – but
that’s complicated by concerns about health and emissions.’

Plastic items tend to be used for very short periods before being discarded. Waste
plastic is sent largely to landfill; much of it just litters the wider environment, including
the oceans. 15

Dr Gaia commented: ‘People need to realise that a plastic bottle could be recycled 20
times. Currently, poor design limits us. The whole point of recycling is keeping material
in use for ever if you can. Actually 90 per cent of the material that does get recycled
only gets recycled once.’

In the meantime, the waste mounts up. Recycling rates are increasing, and there are 20
new biodegradable alternatives, but manufacturing plastic is so cheap that there is little
incentive for change. Each year eight million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans,
with clear evidence that some gets into the food chains because marine creatures ingest
small fragments of micro-plastics.

Dr Gaia explains: ‘We’re facing a tsunami of plastic waste. The global waste industry 25
needs to get its act together. We need a radical shift. On current trends, it will take until
2060 before more plastic gets recycled than landfilled and lost to the environment. We
can’t wait that long.’

© UCLES 2020 06_0500_11_2020_1.13

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