Disposable tableware brings harm to the environment. Disposable tableware is the product of fast-paced life. Many office workers have the habit of eating out. In fact, the ingredients of disposable lunch boxes are all compounds that are difficult to degrade naturally. Let's share the harm that disposable tableware brings to the environment.
Environmental hazards of disposable tableware 1 1. chopsticks
1. Disposable chopsticks hide three hazards:
Damage to respiratory function: Disposable chopsticks must be fumigated with sulfur in the production process, and SO2 will be released when heated during use, which will corrode respiratory mucosa;
Damage to digestive function: disposable chopsticks are bleached with hydrogen peroxide during the production process, which is corrosive and has corrosive effects on the mouth, esophagus and even gastrointestinal tract; If talcum powder is used in the grinding process, it will accumulate slowly in the human body and cause gallstones.
Bacterial infection: the shelf life of sterilized disposable chopsticks is as long as 4 months. Once the shelf life has passed, it is likely to bring staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and hepatitis.
2. Disposable chopsticks are really convenient, but it is also an indisputable fact that sanitation is not up to standard and forest resources are wasted. According to relevant data, China consumes 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks every year, consumes 6.5438+0.66 million cubic meters of wood, and needs to cut down about 25 million trees, reducing the forest area by 2 million square meters.
Second, lunch boxes.
According to the regulations, the main raw material for producing lunch boxes is polypropylene, with a content of about 80%; As a filler, the content of industrial calcium carbonate should not exceed 20%. Polypropylene has strong plasticity, and the produced lunch box has good use strength and is not easy to deform. Industrial calcium carbonate is a kind of stone powder with poor plasticity, and it is difficult to stick together if the powder is used excessively. Therefore, the produced lunch boxes are prone to quality problems such as softening and leakage.
Soft to the touch, easy to tear and smelly, these are the same characteristics of these unqualified disposable lunch boxes. Soft feel makes the lunch box very inconvenient to use, and even causes things like food or soup to overflow when eating; This smell is a clear sign that the materials used to make lunch boxes contain toxic substances.
It is understood that unqualified disposable lunch boxes mainly contain a large number of toxic substances such as industrial calcium carbonate and paraffin wax, and some also use waste plastics. Long-term use of unqualified disposable lunch boxes containing a large amount of industrial calcium carbonate will have an impact on the metabolic system of human body. First, it is easy to form gallstones and kidney calculi. In addition, industrial calcium carbonate contains a lot of heavy metals, which may be more harmful to human body.
Because it contains lead, lead is also very harmful to the digestive tract and nervous system of human body. Children, in particular, are in the developmental stage, and their nervous system is in the process of formation. After eating a lot of lead, it will have an impact on the child's nervous system, and ADHD will occur.
There are very serious safety and quality problems in disposable tableware, which mainly include: first, there are great problems in sanitary performance, because a large number of calcium carbonate, industrial paraffin and recycled waste are added to the raw materials, resulting in the evaporation residue (n-hexane, acetic acid) of the products exceeding the standard seriously; Second, poor performance, unqualified load, large volume deviation and leakage; Third, the degradation performance is not up to standard. Some enterprises regard products filled with calcium carbonate as degradation products, but such products cannot be truly degraded.
It is understood that there are two kinds of disposable tableware, one is mostly made of wood fiber, which belongs to environmental protection products and can be degraded; The other is chemical raw materials, which may contain toxic fillers and cannot be degraded. Prohibited materials such as calcium carbonate, talcum powder, industrial paraffin and waste plastics are widely used in production.
Minerals and additives added in the lunch box will dissolve with water, vinegar and oil contained in food. After food enters the human body, it may cause indigestion, local pain and liver system diseases, affect children's intellectual development, and even lead to gallstones, heavy metal poisoning and even cell cancer.
Disposable lunch boxes made of chemical raw materials are mainly composed of polystyrene, ethylene and other polymer compounds, which are difficult to decompose and toxic, and will not degrade even if buried in soil 100 years.
Because it is difficult to degrade, it will also cause new pollution to the environment. It is white pollution, which will release a lot of toxic gases when burning, and will not rot for 200 years, causing serious harm to the environment. At the same time, because the concentration of harmful substances in some foamed tableware raw materials exceeds the standard, the process control is not good during processing and the temperature is too high during use, tableware will be "poisoned".
The research results abroad show that if the polymerization of polystyrene polymer is incomplete in the synthesis process, styrene monomer, dimer and trimer will dissolve out and be used for packaging food, which is also very harmful to health. Especially when it is used for hot food, the harmful substances inside will be sucked out and condensed on the food. When people eat such food, not only the liver and kidney will be damaged, but also their functions will be mutated. Science has proved that foam is one of the biggest killers of health.
At present, disposable lunch boxes can be seen everywhere. If a school student uses two lunch boxes every day, if a school has 1000 students, then 2000 lunch boxes will be produced that day. Think about how many lunch boxes are produced in the country a year. The number is amazing. People can often see white foamed plastic lunch boxes scattered on rivers, green belts, both sides of railways and small and medium-sized highways, hence the name "white pollution".
These disposable foamed plastic tableware will produce toxins and carcinogens dioxins harmful to human body at a high temperature above 65 degrees Celsius. "Dioxin" is a toxic chlorine-containing compound, which is the most toxic among the known toxic compounds in the world. It is highly carcinogenic and can cause serious skin diseases and damage to the fetus, and may also cause feminization of men.
The direct and indirect treatment cost of one ton of disposable foam plastic waste is more than 10 times of its original output value. Therefore, these "white pollution" not only increased the unwarranted economic pressure on the country and people, but also left many problems for future generations.
Moreover, freon is used as foaming agent in the production of foamed lunch boxes, and the main raw material is polystyrene. As we all know, freon is an ozone depleting substance, which will cause ozone hole in the atmosphere. And polystyrene is a carcinogen, which will cause reproductive dysfunction.
Such a heinous foam lunch box will not only bring us harm in production and use, but also bring more new problems in handling. At present, the disposal methods of foam lunch boxes are generally burning, burying and discarding. If buried, it will take about 200 years for foam lunch boxes to decompose in the environment, which will also hinder the growth of plant roots and possibly pollute groundwater.
Throwing it away provides a hotbed for the survival and reproduction of mosquitoes, flies and bacteria. Another effective treatment method is to use degradable lunch boxes, but its components are incomplete and there are still some defects.
Harm of disposable tableware to the environment. What are the hazards of disposable lunch boxes?
1, Gastrointestinal Dysfunction: Disposable plastic lunch box, soaked in hot water and heated by microwave oven, will make the chemicals added in the lunch box dissolve with the food, which is harmful to the stomach.
2. According to the regulations, the main raw material for producing lunch boxes is polypropylene, the content of which is about 80%; As a filler, the content of industrial calcium carbonate should not exceed 20%. The surface of qualified lunch boxes should be smooth, free of impurities and black spots. Inferior disposable lunch boxes contain a lot of toxic substances such as industrial calcium carbonate and paraffin wax, and some of them are made of waste plastics and talcum powder.
3. It is worth noting that industrial calcium carbonate contains a large amount of heavy metal-lead, which is also very harmful to the digestive tract and nervous system of human body, especially to children in developing period. After ingesting a large amount of lead, it may affect the nervous system, such as ADHD.
4. Bacterial infection: The shelf life of sterilized disposable chopsticks is as long as 4 months. Once the shelf life has passed, it is likely to bring staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and hepatitis.
5, damage to digestive function: disposable chopsticks are bleached with hydrogen peroxide during the production process, which is corrosive and causes corrosion to the mouth, esophagus and even gastrointestinal tract; If talcum powder is used in the grinding process, it will accumulate slowly in the human body and cause gallstones.
6. Damage to respiratory function: Disposable chopsticks must be fumigated with sulfur in the production process, so when heated during use, SO2 will be released and the respiratory mucosa will be corroded.
7. Disposable plastic lunch boxes have become a part of our daily life, whether it is luxury hotels or food stalls along the street; Whether it is a bus station or an airport, you can see their shadows everywhere. But they are not only harmful to human body, but also difficult to degrade, pollute the environment and are not environmentally friendly.
Second, what should I pay attention to when using disposable lunch boxes for a long time?
1, low temperature load
If you go to a restaurant to buy a box lunch to take away, it is recommended to wait until the meal is completely cold to avoid the dissolution of harmful substances in the box lunch caused by high temperature.
2. Avoid high temperature heating.
You can't use disposable lunch boxes to heat food in the microwave oven unless there is a clear sign on the lunch box that can be used in the microwave oven.
3. Use less foamed disposable tableware.
The use of styrofoam lunch boxes used by suppliers should be rejected. Compared with wood fiber and plastic lunch boxes, the harm index of foamed lunch boxes is greater.
4. Avoid greasy food.
It's best to avoid packing food containing a lot of oil and sugar in plastic boxes, because the boiling point of oil easily exceeds the heat resistance limit of plastic, and oil, sugar and plasticizer are all organic substances, which are similar to each other.
How to distinguish the quality of disposable lunch boxes
1, with eyes: colorless, transparent and compact plastic box, its chemical properties are generally stable, and occasional use is also possible.
2. Touch by hand: Feel the texture inside the box. If there is obviously a thick layer of paraffin, the quality of the lunch box will not pass.
3. Smell with your nose: A good disposable lunch box has no obvious odor, and any lunch box with pungent smell is an unqualified product.
Harm of disposable tableware to the environment 3. Long-term use of disposable lunch boxes will have adverse effects on human kidneys and liver. The composition of disposable lunch box is a compound that is difficult to degrade and has certain toxins. If you use disposable lunch boxes to pack high-temperature food, toxins will be transferred to the food because of the high temperature, and it is not good for people to eat toxic food.
Secondly, the components of disposable lunch boxes are all compounds that are difficult to degrade naturally. Usually, they can only be buried or burned, and both methods will do harm to the environment. Moreover, burying will cause some damage to the soil, thus affecting crops and plants growing in the soil and even affecting the soil structure.
Thirdly, combustion will produce some harmful gases, which will not only pollute the atmosphere, but also adversely affect people's health. In addition, many people's concept of environmental protection is not very strong, and disposable lunch boxes are discarded at will after use, which affects the overall environment of the city and will lead to so-called "white pollution" pollution.
I suggest cooking by yourself as much as possible, which is healthy and safe. We can't see the physical store when ordering takeout online, and many unscrupulous merchants will heat the food in plastic packaging and put it into disposable tableware, which is even more harmful.