Zagrożenia środowiskowe związane z odpadami zużytych tworzyw sztucznych
Environmental risks associated with the waste of plastics

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the current state of knowledge on the production of plastics in the world and forms their disposal by organic recycling. Plastics are durable and de-grade very slowly; the chemical bonds that make plastic so durable make it equally resistant to natural processes of degradation. Since the 1950s, one billion tons of plastic have been discarded and may persist for hundreds or even thousands of years. Serious environmental threats from plastic include the increasing presence of microplastics in the marine food chain along with the many other highly toxic chemical pollutants that plastic attracts and concentrates, and larger fragmented pieces of plastic called nurdles. In the 1960s the latter were observed in the guts of seabirds, and since then have been found in increasing concentration. In 2009, it was estimated that 10% of modern waste was plastics, although estimates vary according to region. Meanwhile, 50–80% of debris in marine areas is plastic. The paper also presents a new group of biodegradable polymers based on dimerized fatty acid.

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