White pollution refers to plastic products such as packaging bags, agricultural mulch films, disposable tableware, plastic bottles, etc. made of high molecular compounds such as polystyrene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride, which are discarded as solid waste after use. It is difficult to degrade and pollute the ecological environment and landscape because it is littered at will.

Potential hazards of white pollution:

1, air pollution. Plastics, scraps of paper and dust fly with the wind.

2. Polluted water. Plastic bottles and lunch boxes floating on rivers and seas, plastic bags and bread paper hanging from branches above the water surface not only cause environmental pollution, but also endanger health if animals eat white garbage by mistake.

3. Fire hazard. Almost all white garbage is combustible, and combustible gases such as methane will be produced during natural stacking. Fire accidents easily caused by open flame or spontaneous combustion often occur, often causing heavy losses.

4. White garbage may become a nest of pests, which can provide food, shelter and breeding places for mice, birds and mosquitoes and flies, and the residue in it is also the root of infectious diseases.

5. After the waste plastic packaging enters the environment, it is difficult to degrade, resulting in long-term and deep-seated ecological and environmental problems. First of all, the mixing of waste plastic packaging materials into soil will affect the absorption of nutrients and water by crops, leading to crop yield reduction; Secondly, if livestock eat plastic film, it will cause digestive tract diseases and even death.

6. Landfill will breed bacteria and pollute groundwater.

Treatment of white pollution:

Controlling white pollution has become an urgent challenge for mankind. There are two main solutions: one is to reduce the use, and the other is to recycle scientifically.

1. More than 40 countries and regions around the world prohibit or restrict the use of disposable plastic bags. Disposable plastic straws are also included in the scope of supervision, and the use of plastic straws is prohibited in some cities. Many catering giants stopped using plastic straws and switched to substitutes.

2. Another idea is to develop more scientific and low-cost recycling technology. Most plastic wastes are eventually landfilled, burned or discharged into nature. Recyclable plastics are generally broken down into particles by mechanical processing, and then re-made into new plastic products. For those plastics that are difficult to physically recycle, one of the solutions is chemical recycling, that is, removing chemicals and other components added in the manufacturing process and changing the plastics back into pure oil.

Refer to the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-White Pollution