Green tech in the business sector generally refers to alternative and modified technologies that are designed with both sustainability and industry in mind. In the early years, this was a challenge because older green tech was far too expensive in most cases for any of it to be profitable. That has changed drastically over the years and right now, even the world’s largest business conglomerates are focusing on incorporating and improving eco-friendly modern technology.
In this post, we are going to focus on the role of green technology in improving plastic pollution management. Let’s take a quick look at the problem itself, as well as the innovative green tech solutions which are proving to be highly beneficial for the environment in plastic pollution management.
The Problem at a Glance
The total weight of plastic in garbage is inestimable at this point but consider the fact that 380 – 390 million tonnes of plastic garbage is created by the human population every year. That’s just the weight of plastic waste produced in one year and does not factor in the millions of tonnes of plastic waste we have already produced. Given that synthetic plastic polymers take anything between 70 years to 1,000 years to degrade, it’s no wonder that every baby turtle in the ocean has plastic in its stomach right now, while one million+ seabirds are killed annually because of plastic pollution every year.
Out of the seven broad sectors deemed responsible for plastic pollution, the packaging industry as a whole creates more plastic waste than any five of the other six sectors combined. Taking a closer look reveals that food packaging is the leading sub-contributor of plastic waste within the packaging industry. Single-use plastic soup containers, food containers, and water bottles are currently some of the biggest environmental hazards as far as plastic pollution is concerned.
Plant-Based Plastic (PLA) Food Containers
Plant-based plastic (PLA), on the other hand, will generally take somewhere between 90 days to 180 days before they degrade completely. Note that even this incredibly short timeline (as compared to synthetic plastic) is for unrecycled plant-based plastic products that end up in the garbage heap somehow. If they are recycled like they are supposed to be, then plant-based food, water, and soup containers can drastically reduce the food industry’s constant contribution to plastic pollution. The best part is that PLA lined food and soup containers are not more expensive than nonbiodegradable plastic containers either!
AI-Assisted Plastic Recognition System
There are several companies working on the core technology to combat plastic pollution, but the central idea and their benefits can be underlined as follows:
- Smart software is being incorporated within the garbage disposal industry to identify plastic waste via imaging from compatible hardware for faster, better sorting.
- Similar software, assisted by different hardware is used to identify and collect plastic from waterbodies.
Removal of Microplastics
Microplastic is a more serious problem as it cannot be removed via conventional, manual, or even mechanical means. However, new green tech innovations have been introduced to the sanitation and water treatment facilities that are producing remarkable results. Through intelligent incorporation of agglomeration fixation and chelation in water treatment facilities, microplastic can be removed from water with a 100% success rate.
The focus right now is on making smaller businesses more aware of the plastic pollution hazards. Efforts are being made to spread the information that they too can be a part of the solution, without losing any money for it.