Can plastic be green?

Packaging materials make our consumables more durable and hygienic. The problem is that the amount of packaging is slowly reaching the amount of the product it contains!

We were alarmed by the news 40 years ago that we would run out of petroleum by the millennium. Now we seem to have stocks for at least another 40 years. Nevertheless, it should not encourage us to waste our precious resources which accumulated over millions of years. Artificial polymers or plastics - there are natural polymers as well - played a major role in the technology of the 20th century. Nylons, the widespread application of plastic packaging materials, integrated circuits and mobile phones are among the major accomplishments of the time. However, the rapidly growing use of plastics and the need for the protection of natural resources prompted policymakers to draw up a directive, which came into force in the EU member states two years ago, and aims to raise the proportion of recycled packaging waste to 55% by 2008. Hungary may defer complying with this requirement for another four years. Do you think that our country will be able to comply with the EU directive? What do you think of your own consumption habits? Do you live carefully, or do you waste?

Vote or write your opinion in the related forum! By filling in the test above you can participate in an online game. At the Researchers' Night in the House of the Future on 22 September gifts in connection with Encompass will be distributed among those giving correct answers and the forum's most active participants.

Have your say and join in discussions in the FORUM! (in Hungarian language)
Nearly 200 million tons of plastics in various forms are produced annually in the world, most of which is deposited in the environment as waste material. From the perspective of environmental protection the best solution would certainly be recycling and the production of goods made of biodegradable plastics. A research institute in the UK has developed a material for mobile phone casings which can be buried in the soil, as within a couple of weeks it completely breaks down and "becomes a flower". A seed is placed in the casing, completely isolated from the environment, which starts to grow only after its plastic "barn" has completely decomposed. The question is whether, and how, wealthy consumers from rich countries can be persuaded to replace their cars and household goods made of plastic less often, that is, to reform their consumption habits.

Related lectures of Encompass:

Tibor Czvikovszky: Green plastic?
Ferenc Kovács: Mining - what and till when?