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Public and Environmental Health Effects of Plastic Wastes Disposal: A Review
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This review examines the public and environmental health effects of plastic waste disposal, covering the full lifecycle from production through disposal and environmental accumulation. Researchers found that improper waste management leads to widespread microplastic generation, chemical leaching, and contamination of air, water, and soil. The study highlights that the health effects extend beyond marine ecosystems to include human communities, particularly those near waste disposal sites.
Since 1950 to 2018, about 6.3 billion tonnes of plastics have been produced worldwide, 9% and 12% of which have been recycled and incinerated, respectively. Human population increase and consistent demand for plastics and plastic products are responsible for continuous increase in the production of plastics, generation of plastic waste and its accompanied environmental pollution. We have reviewed in this paper, the most relevant literatures on the different types of plastics in production, the hazardous chemical constituents, prevailing disposal methods and the detrimental effects of these constituents to air, water, soil, organisms and human health viz-a-viz the different disposal methods. Papers that reported environmental and public health effects of plastic constituents but not plastics directly were also reviewed. Varieties of plastics used in the production of many consumable products including medical devices, food packaging and water bottles contain toxic chemicals like phthalates, heavy metals, bisphenol A. brominated flame retardants, nonylphenol, polychlorinated biphenylethers, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene, phenanthrene etc.
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Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.