The pros and cons of plastics — What challenges firms are facing?

It is undoubted that the plastics have changed our lives in a positive way as well as causing extreme problems. According to Science Advance (2017), around 8.3 billion tonnes of plastics have been produced since the 1950s.

With more than eight million tonnes going into the oceans every year, it is estimated there will be more plastic than fish by 2050 and 99 per cent of all the seabirds on the planet will have consumed some. It is thought the sea now contains some 51 trillion microplastic particles — 500 times more than stars in our galaxy. (Independent, 2017)

Pros and Cons

There are some advantages and disadvantages of plastics.

It has proved to be so useful by its popularity. Firstly it has longevity and it gives plastics its main advantages, resistance and endurance. Also, plastic is cheap, capable of being made into any conceivable shape. However, its longevity is getting great attention from regulators and the public. Since the difficulty of plastics management such as micro-plastics and glitter, the plastic use was challenged. The main focus tends to be single-use plastic.

Where are plastics from and go?

There are two types of the main source of plastics — fossil foil and bio-based, while there are 3 types of end of life behaviour — non-biodegradable, biodegradable and compostable. Explaining the various kind of plastics would be distracted so we stop here. However, it is not hard to imagine the challenge of recycling since the various kind of plastics.

Ongoing challenges to firms

Due to the overwhelming plastic waste, the firms are facing quite some challenges from both customers and governments.

Regulations

Plastic waste has become a so extreme global problem that international governments are forcing the countries to take action to tackle it.

Some governments have taken aggressive action. For example, the EU implements the “Single-use Plastic Directive. The European Parliament has approved a law to ban single-use plastic by 2021 in the EU. This policy puts in place more responsibility for plastic producers and sets aggressive recycling targets for the EU Member States. To comply with the policy, firms have to take responsibility for their plastic waste or products. It gives companies opportunities to review their supply chains. The products contain single-use plastic will no longer be welcomed to the EU anymore.

Global Trend

Firms have to achieve greater circularity if they still have to rely on the regime of plastics. Otherwise, they may need investment in innovation to find alternative material.

Waste Management

After plastics are broken down into pieces, it is very difficult to manage plastics. e.g. microplastics, glitter. It leads to a very challenging situation not only for the environment but also for the firms. The difficulty of waste management for the plastic produces as a side product will challenge the suppliers.

Reference:

Independent (2017) How plastic is damaging planet Earth

Science Advance (2017) Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made