Why Burning Plastic Is Unsafe and Recycling Is the Better Solution

What Is Burning Plastic and Why the Burning of Plastic Waste Still Happens?

Why is recycling better than burning plastic? The incineration of plastic waste is the thermal decomposition of synthetic polymers in the fire, both in open heaps and industrial furnaces. The incineration of plastic waste is still a widespread phenomenon in most regions of the globe because the inhabitants are not mindful of the risks  and effects of plastic burning associated with it and there is no alternative cheap waste collection system and an overall ignorance of the toxicity of the chemicals that are released during burning. This is called plastic incineration in most industrial facilities, which aims at trying to retrieve the energy but in most cases lead to the same production of toxic materials unless strictly monitored. It is common practice that people resort to burning plastic waste to empty spaces in landfills or just because it is the cheapest method, not noticing that burning plastic materials is one of the most costly and polluting methods of producing energy or disposing waste.

Effects of Plastic Burning on Human Health and the Environment

This practice has a devastating biological effect, since the effects of plastic burning do not only affect the immediate surroundings of the fire. Looking at the effects of burning plastic on environment, we find that its impact is a ripple effect which cuts across the entire eco system: 

• Breathing Problems:

Breathing in the smoke causes coughing, dyspnea, and pavilion in the long run. 

• Toxic Bioaccumulation

Dioxins have been introduced into the environment and they accumulate on plants and even the fat of animals, which eventually reaches human beings via meat and dairy goods. 

• Soil and Water Poisoning

The consequences of incinerating plastic waste include the influence on the environment at the ground level where the poisonous ash contaminates the ground with toxic substances such as lead and mercury. 

• Acceleration in the Climate 

Plastic burns and releases black-carbon, which captures sunlight, and this contributes to heating the atmosphere much more than the normal greenhouse gases.

Why Plastic Incineration Is Harmful and Should Be Avoided

Industrial plastic incineration is commonly promoted as waste-to-energy, although in truth it is a waste-of-energy since it is destroying useful materials, which demands a lot of resources to be produced. Incinerating plastic waste should not be done due to the following reasons: 

• Ineffective Recovery of Energy

When plastic waste is burnt, it generates more CO2 per unit of energy than coal. Destruction of Materials: It builds a linear take- make-burn model instead of developing a circular economy.

• Hazardous Residue

When plastic waste is burned, it causes toxic bottom ash which is a hazardous waste that needs special hazardous waste landfills.

• Recycling is not encouraged

Large capacity plastic incineration facilities need a constant flow of waste to keep operating, and it is likely to make local governments unwilling to invest in superior sorting and recycling facilities. 

• Extreme Greenhouse Gas Effect

The impact of plastic incineration on the environment is that almost 3 tons of $CO 2 are released per ton of plastic that is burned.

Burning Plastic vs Recycling: Which Is the Safer Option?

Comparing the acts of incinerating plastic waste and recycling, we can conclude that the decision is obvious in terms of burning plastic effects on environment, safety and management of resources. When we ask, which is better, to burn or to recycle plastic, the statistics indicate that recycling uses less energy, which is up to 80% of the energy used to produce virgin plastic, and the burning just uses a fraction of the energy, but the material gets destroyed permanently.

In addition, is Recycling Plastic Waste safer as compared to burning plastic effects on environment? Yes, since the current mechanical recycling plants have closed loop water and air filtering systems to avoid release of toxins. The burning plastic vs recycling controversy has shown that recycling is the only solution where the plastic molecular structure is retained to be utilized in future.

Why Recycling Is the Better Choice?

The first move towards a cleaner future is to make a choice not to burn plastic. What is wrong with burning of plastic waste instead of recycling it? The main reason is that it lowers the process of extracting virgin oil. Each ton of plastic that we recycle saves us about 16.3 barrels of oil. 

By not burning plastic, we would stop the emission of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) into the atmosphere. That is why recycling is better than burning of plastic waste: it transforms a pollutant into a resource, it generates jobs and promotes sustainable development of industries, instead of actual smoke.

Why Choose Banyan Nation for Recycling Instead of Burning Plastic Waste

We also offer an ultimate solution to avoid burning plastic at Banyan Nation where we will use high-end technology to clean and recycle post-consumer plastics into near-virgin quality resins. We aim to assist the brands to avoid burning plastic by providing a traceable and high quality supply of recycled polymers that comply with the world standards. 

With our plastic recycling programs of burning the waste, we bring the informal waste sector into the formal value chain making sure that plastic will be safely collected and recycled. The recycling of plastic by burning technology that we practice will be based on ensuring that the contaminants get eliminated at molecular level hence making our burning plastic solution a good choice to usher in a sustainable future, both environmentally friendly as well as economically viable.

Conclusion

The impact of plastic burning is a stern indication of the fact that our present disposal patterns have to be altered. It is high time we stop considering burning of plastic waste as an option where the lives of our children and the environment are involved.The plastic crisis can finally be resolved by selecting the burning plastic recycling and joining the leaders of the circular economy. The time has come to stop burning plastic and start using cleaner and safer and smarter way of recycling.