Highlights:
• Tiny piece of milk packet can cause hazards to environment
• Small piece of plastic cannot be recycled
Edges of the Milk packets which we generally cut off cannot be recycled which leads to plastic pollution and cause many other severe threats.
We are still not aware about the consequences of hazard that we are brings to the environment. Taking the example of daily activity that every household does, cutting off the edges of the milk packets. Most of us are unaware of the fact that tiny tip of the milk packets can be so harmful to the environment. The tiny plastic tips that we separate from the packet are difficult to be recycled and is a big threat to the environment.
Have any one thought why the small piece cannot be recycled
The milk packets contain low-density polyethene known as (LDPE). To recycle this kind of plastic, it needs to be compressed at high temperature and in certain shape so the small piece of the milk packet add no value.
If they don’t end up at recycling units then it disintegrates into microplastic, that is like the size of microbeads used in gels and tooth paste. These microbeads further enter water bodies and landfills by rain and wind that leads to clogging.
Small pieces causes hazards
• These tiny microplastics enter our eco-system and harm both animals as well as human beings. The microbeads enter water bodies and are unknowingly consumed by marine animals causing their death.
• Moreover, this minuscule plastic also finds it’s way to landfills and obstruct the easy flow of water.
• The milk packets tiny triangular edges are contributing to an alarming rate to plastic waste every single year. More than one-third of ‘branded plastic’ that goes into garbage daily from household comes from dairy products packages.
• These microbeads generated from milk packets lay idle in landfills for years together and when they catch fire usually in summers, the chlorinated plastic on burning produces cancer-causing furans and dioxins.
Eco-friendly alternatives
• Give a horizontal cut and stop snipping off the edges.
• If by mistake you cut the edges of the sachet, then slip them inside the big packet and don’t let them go loose.
