The Life Cycle of Plastics
Angela Ye ’24
Sydney Robinow ’25
Plastic dominates every aspect of our lives, from disposable utensils to computer keyboard keys. The durability of plastic is both its advantage and weakness, making it a versatile material with long-lasting negative impacts on the environment. However, not much is known about the creation of the material and why it takes so long to biodegrade.
To simplify the process, raw materials such as natural gas, oil, or plants are refined into ethane or propane. Under high heat, they are processed into monomers, which are then pulled by a catalyst into a chain called a polymer with chemical bonds (This is Plastics, 2021; Vodovotz, 2022).
For something to be biodegradable, microorganisms must be able to digest the polymers that compose the material using enzymes, a protein that speeds up the reaction process. In the presence of oxygen, biodegradation produces carbon dioxide, water, and other biological substances, depending on the material. Unfortunately, the enzymes that perform biodegradation do not recognize plastic polymers, as they are synthetic and not found in nature. Instead, plastic slowly breaks down into smaller pieces, turning into microplastics that only fully biodegrade after hundreds of years. Before it can break down completely, plastic does its damage by separating into pieces consumed by animals, polluting waters, or releasing toxic chemicals into the environment (Vodovotz, 2022).
The new generation of biodegradable plastics involves making plastics with bacteria or embedding materials that microorganisms in nature are familiar with, such as rubber, allowing them to be broken down (Vodovotz, 2022; Sanders, 2021). However, we should not rely solely on biodegradable plastics to solve the global plastic waste problem. Although this could be a feasible solution in the future, this process is currently expensive and uncommon. Understanding how plastics are created is one of the first steps to limiting our consumption of plastic, and with this knowledge, we should take action by limiting our use of single-use plastics and recycling the plastics that we use.
References
PLASTICSMarCom. (2021, June 16). How are plastics made? This Is Plastics.
Robert Sanders, M. relations| A. 21, & Sanders, R. (2021, April 21). New process makes biodegradable' plastics truly compostable.
Berkeley News. https://news.berkeley.edu/2021/04/21/new-process-makes-biodegradable-plastics-truly-compostable/
Vodovotz, Y. (2022, June 3). Why isn't plastic biodegradable? https://news.osu.edu/why-isnt-plastic-biodegradable/
