Plastic is one of the most common materials we use in our day to day lives. The use of the material has continued to grow over the years due to the availability of its raw materials as well as low cost of production. Today, you find plastics being used in making Toys, Automobiles, Electrical devices, home appliances, electronics, and many others. In this article, we will focus our attention on the use of plastic at home. Let’s get started!
Uses Of Plastic
1. Kitchenware
Many of the things we use in the kitchen are made of plastic. These include spoons, plates, grinders, cups, parts of microwaves, refrigerator, bowls, Gallons, water dispenser, etc. In fact, three out of every five items you see in the kitchen is likely going to have some form of plastic.
2. Electronic Devices And Appliances
Most of the electrical appliances at home are made up of plastics. These include Television, home theater, electric socket, computers, and printers, Air conditioners, lightening systems, and a lot more. In every corner of every room at home, you are likely going to find at least one electrical device or appliance made with plastic.
3. Plastic Bags
90% of the items we buy from stores are wrapped in a plastic bag. Plastic bags are now the most common way of packaging, especially in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industries. Large companies and stores usually make use of these plastic bags, hence ending up with a lot of plastic waste. The good thing is it can be recycled after use to make other plastic products other than leaving it to degrade the environment.
Some of these plastic bags are recycled into shoes, plates, buckets, chairs, and many other things that you can think of. Immould plastics is one of the leading plastic recycling companies that can turn recycled plastic into a beautiful finished product. They also have some beautiful designs of baskets that can be used for decoration in our homes.
4. Plastic Bottles
Another common use of plastic in the home is in the form of plastic bottles. Plastic bottles can be used for water, drugs, soft-drink, beer, cooking ingredients, cosmetics products, and many more.
Plastic bottles are used mostly in packaging liquids because of their durability and the fact that it is not as fragile as the bottle.
However, with these advantages, plastics still come with their challenges when it comes to disposal. Although there has been a lot of campaigning on adopting recycling of these types of plastics, the rate of recycling is still low and the implication is that a good number of these plastics needs up in our water bodies, thereby polluting the aquatic habitat.
Recently, there has been a lot of research on how to recycle plastic into other products. Some researchers have proposed that plastic bottles can be used for building houses. These plastic bottles are filled with sand and are then glued to each other using cement. Even though these kinds of houses are still very few, they look very attractive and are cheaper compared to the brick and blockhouses.
5. Another Important Thing In The Plastic Is The Cap
The cap is part of the bottle that is usually screwed to avoid insects and other harmful things going into the plastic bottle. The cap can then be used in making some very useful items that can be found in our homes. Items such as
● Rake
● Battery
● Yarn
● Rope
● Bags
● Broom
All these and many more can be used or obtained from the plastic materials that are found in our kitchens and homes.
6. Foam Coverage
This is a material that we normally use to protect your electronic gadgets. If you check immune plastics, you will find some gadgets that make use of this foam coverage. Examples of such gadgets are:
● Television set
● Radio
● Picture frame
● Microwave
Types Of Plastic That Can Be Dangerous To Health
Compost Plastic
Compost plastic is very rigid and is not easily broken down by microorganisms, that is, they are said to be non-biodegradable. This type of plastic does not melt at regular temperature, so, burning as a disposal method doesn’t really work.
Compost plastic poses many health challenges, more so when it is discarded into the water bodies as they become a problem to aquatic life when they get into the river. This is because they prevent the normal flow of oxygen in the water bodies and this can lead to the death of many of the aquatic animals.
Bioplastic
If you hear the word ‘bioplastic’ it will sound like it’s the best form of plastic to use. However, they are not. Bioplastics also are not biodegradable and they can never be broken down by micro-organism. This means that the only way to manage the waste is through recycling and incineration. The problem with incineration is that burning plastic produces some dangerous gases with aside from causing health hazards has also been linked to being responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer.
Biodegradable Plastic
The term biodegradable plastic is a common one; it is used to classify the type of plastics that can be broken down. However, research has shown that while it is true it is biodegradable, the rate of decomposition is very slow and the implication is that it is still not very idle for human health and the environment.
Home Plastic Use Conclusion
Plastic is an essential material and it is used in almost all aspects of our daily life. We use plastics to make a lot of materials from simple ones such as spoons, plates, toys, and watches, to parts of complex systems such as Automobiles, computers, Air conditioners, water tanks, etc.
This article looks at the various ways we use plastics at home. From our discussion so far, it is obvious that it is almost impossible to see a home that has no materials, devices, or appliances made of plastic.
The use of plastics has continued to grow over the years due to low cost of production and high availability of raw materials. However, care should be taken to avoid a situation where managing plastic waste becomes a challenge.
