We use plastic in our daily applications and it has become one of the most important components in our life. We use plastic bags, bottles and many things that are made up of plastic.In the language of chemistry, plastic is an organic polymer with a higher molecular mass. You will be amazed to know that in developed countries like the United States, the United Kingdom one-third of the plastic available is used for packaging, plumbing, and piping. In this article, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of plastic.
Advantages of Plastic
Less weight:
The main important advantage of plastic is that it is light in weight. As it is lightweight, you can easily carry the plastic from one place to another. That means your transportation cost gets reduced while transporting plastic. Do you know why plastic is lightweight? Well, its answer is low density. Due to the less weight of the plastic, it has substituted many other materials in the automotive fuel tanks.
Cheap Price:
There are many materials that are available in the world that are as versatile as plastic. But the key point is that for producing all those materials you will require a large amount but for the creation of plastic a very less budget is required.
It is a non-Conductive Material:
Have you ever seen the conduction of the electricity via plastic? Absolutely not. As it does not conduct the electricity, you can use the plastic in electric appliances, remote controls, etc. without any worries.
Plastic is more durable and it is excellent at absorbing shocks. Have you seen the plastic bumpers on the road? Plastic bumpers are capable of absorbing shocks. The bulletproof vests that we used are more durable and cheaper only due to the plastic material.
Plastic is also used in railways, trucks, and buses for years due to its durability.
Recyclable:
The recycling process has gained huge importance in the previous two years. Plastic is recyclable, so it can be used after recycling for many regular applications. Plastic cups, bowls, plates can be recycled easily.
Another important benefit of plastic is that it can be reshaped into new products.
It has no Odor:
How plastic smells like? Have you ever experienced? Plastic is odorless. It becomes a very easy job to reuse the plastic as the old and new plastic have no smell.
So, the above are the advantages of plastic. Now, let us take a closer look at its
Disadvantages of Plastic
Environmental Pollution:
The important disadvantage of plastic is that it is hazardous to the environment. When plastic is burned then, a lot of hazardous gases are emitted into the environment and all these gases give rise to global warming.
Humans are using plastic in thousands of applications and if it burned without any restriction then, different species of the bird will no longer exist. Humans will also suffer from various diseases and some may have to face death. So, burning plastic in the environment is not at all good idea.
Costly Recycling Process:
Plastic recycling is easy if you do it in a large amount. For forming the plastic recycling plant, large machinery is required. Setting up these machineries and maintaining them can be costly. For preventing the degradation of the plastic material certain chemicals are used. These chemicals are phthalates and BPA.
These chemicals can increase hormone levels in both males and females. So, in short, if it is recycled using a large number of additives then human life is in danger.
So, these are the pros and cons of plastic. Researchers are working very hard to overcome the limitation and cons of using plastic. We hope that you got the required information from this article. Let us know in the comments your opinion about the plastic.
