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A Pro-Environmental Value Construct to Deal With Plastic Pollution
Summary
This article proposes a value-based framework for understanding plastic pollution, analyzing how the widespread usefulness of plastics drives their overuse and improper disposal. The author argues that sustainable solutions require rethinking the full lifecycle of plastics — from production through end-of-life — with a particular focus on reducing the microplastic contamination entering food chains.
Plastics are man-made synthetic materials. They are made mostly from crude oil even though natural gas and coal could also be used for manufacturing plastics. The multiplicity of its uses together with its versatile properties has made it indispensable to modern living. The average life of plastics differs in various industrial sectors. The generation of waste depends on the mean-product lifetime of the product into which plastics have been integrated. And when this waste is not handled properly (recycled or incinerated under controlled environment), the problem of pollution emerges. Plastics in the form of microplastics have been found in food chains as well, threatening human wellbeing. A model to better understand the source - use and afteruse of plastics is the central focus of this article. It looks at the need for building a sustainable model to deal with plastic pollution.