Environmental effects of disposed styrofoam and plastics

1. Environmental effects of disposed
Styrofoam and plastic containers
Done by: Tan Jun Xiang

2. What is a Styrofoam?
 Styrofoam is also known as Polystyrene, which is a
petroleum-based plastic made from styrene monomer, an
organic compound.
 Polystyrene is a light-weight material, about 95% air, with
very good insulation properties and is used in all types of
products from cups that keep your beverages hot or cold to
packaging material that keep your computers safe during
shipping.

3. Disposable Plastics
 Disposable plastics, including plastic containers and bottles,
are usually made from polyethylene terephthalate, PET
(from the polyester family)
 Why is polyethylene terephthalate commonly used as
disposable plastics? This is because they cheap and light
weight

4. Harmful effects of Styrofoam
 During production of Styrofoam, large amount of air
pollutants, liquid and solid waste, are released into the
atmosphere. This makes the factory workers making
Styrofoam prone to many respiratory problems and illnesses
 Also, most Styrofoams are Non-Biodegradable. This poses a
great threat to the environment , including the disruption of
marine life as large amount of toxic wastes are released into
oceans

5. Harmful effects of Styrofoam
 Styrofoams that were made in the past contains CFCs, which
were extremely hazardous to the environment and they are
known to break down the ozone layer. Now, although
styrofoams are CFC-free, they still contain some substances
(like HCFC) and greenhouse gases which still pose a threat to
the environment.
HCFCs are believed to be 5 times
more destructive than what it
appears to be

6. Harmful effects of plastics
 Plastics have been known to cause various illnesses to
humans, including eye irritation and skin rashes. They are
also suspected to contain human carcinogen, capable of
causing cancer in living tissue
 About 100,000 animals such as dolphins, turtles whales,
penguins are killed every year due to plastic bottles, etc. This
animals mistaken them for food, thus, they got choked to
death.
 Moreover, plastic bags and bottles are non-biodegradable.
The decomposition of plastic bags takes about 1000 years.

7. How much plastic bags do Singaporeans
and the World use each year?
 Singaporeans use about 2.5 billion plastic bags a year for
their purchases, or an average of 2,500 bags per family, for
each year. These 2.5 billion plastic weighs about 19,000
tonnes or 0.8 per cent of the total waste disposed of in
Singapore annually.
 In a global context, A common estimate is that over 500
billion plastic bags are used annually. That is about
500,000,000,000 plastic bags used per year. In other words,
about 1 million plastic bags are used per minute

8. Some useful Videos
How plastic bags are made- A detailed video that explains the
process on the manufacturing of plastic bags
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CfL5xl2N1Q
How plastic bags get recycled
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6hzhKmw4EY