Living with Nature - School on Blog by Dr. Abercio V. Rotor

July 2026 is Plastic-Free Month

Let Us All Join the Global Plastic-Free Movement

Dr Abe V Rotor

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Microplastics are small plastic particles that come from the degradation of plastics, ubiquitous in nature and therefore affect both wildlife and humans. They have been detected in many marine species, but also in drinking water and in numerous foods, such as salt, honey and marine organisms.

Plastic rain is the new acid rain. Plastic dust is the new smog. Plastic continent is the new and eighth continent. Each year, Earth Day takes on a particular theme and the theme for 2024 is Planet vs. Plastics. According to the official Earth Day 2024 webpage, the organization is committed to helping to reduce global plastic production by 60% by 2040.

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Reference and Review Articles

1. What is Plastic? How are plastics differentiated?
2. Nata Laminate as Plastic (and Leather) Substitute
3. Plastic rain is the new acid rain
4. The Case of the Goat that Ate Plastic
5 - The Making of a Plastic Continent
6. We are Living in a Plastic World
7. Giant Plastic Straw Christmas Tree

8. The 7 Different Types of Plastic

9. PLASMOG: Plastic-Smoke-Fog

Annex: THE GROWING THREAT OF MICROPLASTICS AND PLASTICS

National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP)

Part 1 - What is plastic?

How are plastics differentiated?

1. The first plastic was made by Alexander Parkes in 1862, after whom it was named: Parkesine. Actually it was an organic material derived from cellulose. Once heated, it could be molded, retaining its shape when cooled.

A world of plastics on wheels

Because of its high cost of production it was shelved until the later part of the 19th century when celluloid made a debut as replacement for ivory in making of billiard balls. To prevent the explosion of the highly volatile celluloid, camphor was added leading to the development of thermoplastics.

2. Soon, the first completely synthetic man-made plastic was formulated by a New York chemist, Leo Baekeland, hence the name Bakelite. This material does not burn, boil, melt, or dissolve under any commonly available acid or solvent. It also retains its shape. Bakelite could be added to almost any material, making the new substance more durable, light, heat-resistant and shatterproof. War machinery and automobile manufacturing made use of this new product to great advantage.

3. Other forms of plastics were then discovered. These include rayon (man-made silk), and cellophane (the first glass-clear, flexible and waterproof plastic). These materials have many uses today.

4. By 1920, the “plastic craze” spread out. Du Pont, one of the leaders of the industry developed nylon, replacing animal hair in toothbrushes. By 1940, the world saw the development of acrylic, polyethylene, and many more polymers, which replaced natural materials such as cotton, fiber, wood and steel.

5. DuPont later introduced Teflon, favored for lining cooking utensils for its acid and heat resistant while its non-stick properties make the utensils easy to clean.

6. Dow, another plastic manufacturer, on the other hand, came up with polyvinylidene chloride, better known as “Saran”, a perfect material for food packaging and storage.

7. Polyethylene, introduced in 1933, is currently the largest volume plastic in the world for making soda and milk bottles, grocery bags, and plastic food storage containers. This is the kind of plastic the goat ate and which made her sick. See Part 4 (below): The Case of the Goat that Ate Plastic.

8. There is virtually no end to the discovery of other forms of plastics. We have plastic putty developed by Velcro. This material is similar to rubber, but has a 25 percent higher rebound power. Its property of not being able to maintain a constant shape is compensated by its high flexibility, stretching many times its length without tearing. Initially, it was used in the manufacture of toys, but now many potential uses are seen.

A World Without Plastics?

Today’s world is incomprehensible without plastics. Plastics contribute to our health, safety and peace of mind. They are part of our dwellings, cars, toys, appliances, even body parts such as heart valves and prosthetics. There are countless uses in all aspects of our lives.

On the other hand, the biggest dilemma with plastics is its proper disposal. It has become a major waste handling challenge all over the world. While we see its virtually endless uses, we are also witness to its accumulation exacerbated by its inability to biodegrade. As a result, its rate of accumulation is alarmingly enhanced, creating an issue of concern to environmentalists, and citizens of the world.

Plastic Garbage

Plastic Flotilla

In a field trip along the coast of Morong, Bataan, in the Philippines, my students from the UST College of Pharmacy were surprised to see plastic material strewn by waves along the shore. A cursory examination revealed the following materials:

1. Plastic sack which has replaced the jute or gummy sack

2. Nylon rope and filament, which have replaced Manila hemp and cotton threads. Filament is used for fish net.

3. Plastic simulated leather used in shoes, canvas and bags. There are other kinds of artificial leather.

4. Styropore for packing and containers, replacing banana leaves, straw and paper.

5. Foam mattresses, slippers and furniture. Natural sponge is now a rare commodity. Foam has replaced coconut coir and kapok.

6. Plastic bottles, jars and containers. Glass is still the best material when it comes to food storage.

7. Plastic sachets, bags and wrappers have largely taken over the use of paper and cardboard.

These plastic materials are familiar to us. We see them at home and on store shelves. They are evidences of our modern, throw-away culture.

Trapped Fish Fry in Plastic

While gathering the garbage to help clean up the shore, my students found trapped fish fry in plastic bags. Wanting to find out how this happened, we looked for clues.

Trapped fish

The plastic bags, flushed down the river, or thrown by unscrupulous residents and promenades became homes for young, marine species. Since these materials are not edible seaweeds or seagrass, they become entrapments to the fry, causing their death through starvation and asphyxiation.

We have seen plastic materials stuck at the bottom of reefs preventing juvenile seaweeds from developing. Plastics also trap the polyps of corals, and microsopic zooplankton eliminating a major food source for marine life.

That evening, along the shores of Morong, we asked ourselves what each can do to rid the shores of plastics. While we reflected in silence, the tranquil waves washed ashore a plastic bottle.

Here are some things we can do with plastics.

1. Re-use plastic bags and bottles at home. Remember that plastics are durable. Be sure to clean them properly before using.

Biodegradable and compostable plastics

2. Gather plastic bottles and unserviceable plastic wares for recycling. Arrange with cart pushers, or your nearest junk shop for their regular collection. Do not attempt to re-melt plastics. The process is not as simple as you think. Don’t burn to dispose them, either. Burning plastics emits smoke and fumes deleterious to health. Dioxin is the most poisonous man-made chemical. Dioxins are called persistent organic pollutants (POPs), meaning they take a long time to break down once they are in the environment. Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones.

3. Do not use plastic if you can help it. Use paper or glass containers. This is also advantageous to your health. Do not use plastic containers for soft drinks, vinegar, salt, patis, toyo. Strong solvents tend to chemically alter in the presence of plastics. Studies show that some plastics that are carcinogenic.

4. Keep plastic materials away from your bedroom. As plastics age, they emit gaseous substances which may cause allergy, asthma and other ailments when inhaled.

5. Patronize products that use non-plastic containers, wrappers, bags and utensils.

6. Be part of a community environmental project. Attend seminars and workshops that talk about the environment. Read about ecology; learn to be a leader in this area; know about re-cycling, values formation, and the like. Be an ecologist yourself.

Part 2 - Nata Laminate as Plastic (and Leather) Substitute

In search of natural plastic

Now, this one is for the Guinness Book of Records: Shoes made from nata de coco. At then St. Paul College QC, Dr. Anselmo S. Cabigan and his advisee the late Amparo Arambulo developed shoes made from nata laminate as her thesis.

Author with Miss Amparo Arambulo, Nata researcher. This article is dedicated in her honor. Photo taken at the former SPUQC Museum

The laminate is actually compressed nata de coco, dried and layered into ply, then subjected to the usual tanning procedure. It is cut and made into shoe soles, actually worn by students quality test. Nata laminate is stronger than leather. It gives a good finish and it looks like leather.

In another research, nata was made into surgical thread. Since nata is a natural product (a capsule of the bacterium, Leuconostoc mesenteroides), it is soluble. It may be a good substitute for expensive commercial absorbable surgical threads.

Nata de Coco Delight

Nata laminate is also a potential substitute for special paper, such as sheepskin, and an exotic material in making wallets, bags and belts. Unlike plastic, nata laminate is biodegradable. It also offers to save endangered animals from being butchered for skin.

The case of the goat that ate plastic, and fish fry trapped in a plastic bag can spur us to develop a second generation of biodegradable plastics. This is the essence of good stewardship of this planet, for our own good, as well as for those who will follow us. ~

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Part 3 - Plastic rain is the new acid rain.*

Plastic pollution is an urgent and global problem. Most of the environmental attention to date has been focused on household and packaging waste. But scientists have found that tiny fragments known as microplastics make up significant amounts of ocean plastic pollution. Scientists have recently been scrambling to find solutions to deal with our growing microplastics problem. Microplastic debris found on Depoe Bay, Oregon in January 2020. Photo credit: Andrew Selsky/Associated Press. This time, they turned to tiny bacteria for help.

Microbiologists at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) devised a sustainable way to remove polluting microplastics from the environment.

Their partners in crime are bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Capable of grouping microplastics floating around in wastewater, these microbe nets trap microplastics and sink them. The plastic blobs can then be disposed of or recycled.

Other research efforts include exploring different novel materials as filters to remove microplastics before they reach large water bodies. Nanocellulose structures are highly effective in capturing extremely small microparticles that our eyes can’t see.

Researchers at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland envision that these inexpensive components could be installed directly at the point of microplastic generation. This way, the pesky particles won’t be able to make it to important waterways, where removal would be many times tougher.

But wait… How are microplastics different from the ubiquitous plastic products we use daily?We have seen horrific posts related to plastic waste circulating the web. While these dangers are visible to the naked eye, some are left undetected until fairly recently – microplastics.

With sizes ranging from as small as one-tenth the width of human hair, to twice the size of fine beach sand, these microparticles are so small that they can be carried by the wind.

Recent studies highlight the seriousness of this issue. 1000 metric tons – easily the weight of 120 million plastic bottles – rained on protected areas across western US. 84% of microplastics originate from road sources, while the rest come from agricultural dusts and oceans.

Illustration of how microplastics get into the atmosphere. Photo credits: Janice Brahney/PNASThey come from anywhere you can imagine. These invisible threats come from a variety of sources, some very surprising.

Plastic materials (think your bags and bottles) left out in the environment disintegrate gradually into smaller and smaller pieces.

Even doing your laundry releases microplastics – tiny microfibres slough off your synthetic clothes and get flushed to wastewater treatment plants.

Researchers also accidentally discovered huge numbers of tiny microplastic specks in their plastic container while prepping their lunch.

Tyres driving over roads break down deposited plastic particles into finer microplastics, enabling them to be launched back into the atmosphere, just like how oceans recirculate microplastics.One-way ticket around the globe.

What’s even more disconcerting is that microplastics can be transported to distant and pristine locations such as Antarctica, despite being so far away from actual sources of microplastics.

This just shows that microplastics are already spiraling through Earth’s recirculation system. And because of their astounding chemical longevity, microplastics spend many years cycling through different circulatory systems such as air, land and sea, ultimately ending up somewhere far from where they came from.

You could be taking in a deep breath of “fresh” air at Joshua Tree National Park, while tiny flakes of acrylic polymer – that could have come from someone’s laundry in Japan – land imperceptibly on your nose.Effects on humans still unclear.Ingestion of microplastics by small creatures lead to blockages in their intestinal tract. The ingested plastics could move up the food chain, leading to a plastic accumulation in organisms at the top of the food chain, akin to heavy metal bio-accumulation.

Some sea creatures exposed to microplastics even displayed difficulties in growing, severely affecting their ability to survive.

You’re also likely to be eating microplastics every day without even noticing it.

Microplastics were revealed in the placentas of unborn babies just a couple of months ago, most probably shed when shaking up plastic baby bottles filled with hot baby formula.

Assuming that the microplastics would somehow hamper foetal growth and cause long-term damage to its immune system, the researchers have yet to determine their exact health impacts on the human body.

But it’s reasonable to assume that having tiny bits of plastic lodged in your lungs or in your unborn child are hardly good things. Eliminating microplastics requires global effort.An overall picture on the consequences of microplastics to us and the ecosystem in general is still unclear. But such repercussions are inescapable in the immediate future.

Returning to the pre-plastic era is unimaginable, unless we come up with materials as great as plastic, but not as environmentally upsetting.

Perhaps one of the most effective ways to end this microplastic scourge, aside from inventing innovative methods of removal, is to cut out single-use plastics.

Just like how we cast a dry spell on acid rain, we too, can put an end to this toxic microplastic cycle. ~

* By Mitchell Lim. Mitchell Lim is DUG's Scientific Content Architect. With a PhD in Chemical Engineering

Acknowledgement and thanks: The Daily DUG

Part 4 - The Case of the Goat that Ate Plastic

The goat was pregnant for too long and was

getting thin, so the owner sent for the butcher.

Guess what we discovered? The bloated stomach was stuffed with plastics – pieces of containers, wrapping materials and grocery bags. One cannot imagine why the animal devoured plastics instead of grass other than due to hunger. After all, goats are not choosy when it comes to food. Outside the wide range of plant species they can eat, since they are omnivorous, they yearn for almost anything sweet, salty, oily or spicy.

Curiously, an inventory was made from the animal’s stomach. Found in it there were cellophane used for sweets like bocayo, peanut butter, and candies, thin plastic bags for retailing bagoong alamang, patis, toyo, cooking oil, ice drop and the like. The largest are grocery convenient bags for meats, fish, soft drinks, fruit juices and cooked food. Some of these materials still bear traces of the product trade names, indicating recent ingestion. Plastics earlier ingested were discolored, but nonetheless are undissolved and intact. As the stomach twists and turns, the larger plastic materials envelop the smaller ones, forming a mass stuck up in the rumen (or large first compartment of the stomach) like clothes in a overloaded washing machine.

The stomach of ruminants is designed to store large amounts of food. The food is consumed rapidly with a minimum of chewing, before it is swallowed. This reduces grazing time while it enhances large intake. Then when the animal is resting, the raw ingesta is brought out for re-mastication. At this time, digestive enzymes are mixed in with food before final digestion.

The stomach muscles incessantly contracting and squeezing, in a process called peristalsis (successive waves of involuntary contraction along the walls of the intestine, forcing the contents onward). Digestive enzymes dissolve solid materials into pulp (chyme), which is a thick soup material which later goes to the small intestine. Here, the nutrients are assimilated by tiny and numerous, tiny finger-like protrusions called villi. The remaining contents then move to the large intestines, where they are retained for a while before being excreted as feces.

Why does the stomach retain the plastic materials?

We know that goats and other ruminant animals like sheep, cattle, zebra and gazelle, have very efficient digestive systems. This is needed for them to subsist on more than just high-fiber food such as grass and roughage. Their chambered stomachs retain food much longer than man can, or fowls, and pigs. This explains why the excreta of ruminants yields well digested fiber. This is not the case with the excreta of animals with simple digestive systems such as pigs. Birds and chicken although they break down shells and stones in their gizzards, cannot fully digest cellulose. Perhaps the only creature, superior to ruminants in cellulose digestion, is the termite. Termites have living protozoa in their stomachs that break down wood cellulose even in its tough form, lignin. Without this symbiont, termites will certainly starve and die. There has been no known successful experiment, however, to determine whether termites can digest plastics.

The implication is that no digestive enzyme, not even gastric acid, is powerful enough to break down the cellulose in plastics. This is classical proof of the non-biodegradability of plastics.

The question is asked: Can’t ruminants eliminate unwanted materials in their digestive system either by regurgitation or excretion? The answer is no. In the first place the movement of the stomach and its chambers (rumen, reticulum and omasum) are not governed by the central nervous system. The mechanism of rumination is involuntary. It is the coarseness of the feed that stimulates the walls of the rumen to contract so that the material is brought out for re-mastication. Animals, which feed on soft and non-fibrous diet like alfalfa, ruminate less than those that depend on roughage.

Plastics Camouflage Appetite

It is likely that the plastic materials line the surface of the rumen in a way that produces insufficient stimulation to expel the ingesta for re-mastication. Another effect is that the animal experiences false fullness, camouflaging true appetite. This means that because the animal is not hungry, it eats less, consequently, becoming malnourished. Thus, the goat that ate plastic was emaciated, yet had a bloated stomach. Yet this does not discount the possibility of slow poisoning due to the slow disintegration of secondary metabolites.

The other reason why goats cannot eliminate the plastics through excretion is obvious. Unlike large livestock, their feces are dry and nodular (small and round-shaped), barely the size of coffee beans.

The first completely synthetic man-made plastic, Bakelite, does not burn, melt or dissolve under ordinary solvents. As an additive, it makes almost any material strong, durable and light.

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Goat’s saliva is hot. Plants grazed by goats are likely to die.

Leo Carlo and his pet - a black goat - at home, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Other than direct injury, what is in the saliva of the goat that leads to the death of the plant that it feeds upon?

First of all, let’s study the eating habit of this herbivore. When feeding, it pulls and tears off at anything its teeth come in contact with. It prefers seedlings and succulent tissues. But when food is scarce it feeds on older leaves, stems and roots. Goats in town may even devour wrappers of sweets and kitchen refuse. There are cases ingested plastics can cause slow death to the animals.

I gave a pet kid to my youngest son when he was small. He would allow the animal to lick his fingers. I discovered tiny lacerations inflicted by the developing milk teeth of his pet. “Was it not painful?” I asked. Leo told me it was only after some time that he felt tingling sensation of pain. I believe that the saliva of a goat contains anesthesia, which could be the thing old people call “hot.” Is this the active principle that kills plants?

But plants have their ways of defending themselves, such as the presence of thorns (e.g., Mimosa or makahiya), high level of impregnated silica (e.g., Imperata cylindrica or cogon), and obnoxious odor or taste (e.g., Lantana or bangbangsit Ilk). There are plants that respond to injuries caused by the feeding of animals. They produce poison to discourage, if not kill, the voracious feeder.

This is a classical case. In the African Savannah a species of acacia is the favorite of browsing animals like the giraffe. When the acacia trees are threatened by overgrazing, they send signals like pheromones to warn each other, including the unaffected acacia trees, to produce higher level of tannic acid, similar to mimosin in ipil-ipil. This substance, other than being unpleasant to the taste, is extremely acrid and may cause discomfort to the feeder.

I had an experience at home when I was a farmhand which is quite similar to this case. Goats after the rice harvest are usually left stray in the field but now and then they trespass into backyards and gardens. I noticed our neighbor's goat coming over to browse on wild patani (Phaseolus lunatus). My dad simply didn't mind, to think that entire borders are covered with the viny plant. Then the goat stopped visiting us.

We went to our friendly neighbor and saw the goat, its stomach bloated as if it were in its last stage of pregnancy. Tata Melecio had to slaughter the animal. We found out that its stomach was stuffed with undigested patani leaves, and emitting the characteristic bean odor which I found in later years to be that of tannic acid.

Did the patani plant, like the acacia tree, produce "toxin" to defend itself from excessive feeding by the animal? If this is so, then nature extends to both plants and animals protective mechanisms through the production of chemical compounds that directly confront extreme threat - indeed an effective means of survival not only to the organism, more so, to the species.

But this does not adequately answer why plants bitten by goats are likely to die. I attribute this observation to the manner goats feed.

Firstly, uprooted plants have little chance to recover especially in extreme dry season.

Secondly, plants in general die when their biomass above the ground is severed, even if their roots remain intact. It is because the roots will subsequently starve for lack of manufactured food coming from the leaves.

Thirdly, goats prefer plants in the flowering and fruiting stages, thus depriving the plant from producing offspring, even those that reproduce vegetatively.

And lastly, in the absence of fresh feeds, goats forage on the dormant parts of plants in summer (aestivation), and in winter (hibernation), thus preventing the plants to re-emerge come growing season.

One thing I learned from that childhood experience of mine is that, raise goats in corral, or tether them securely while grazing in the field. Your plants may not have a second chance. So with your goats.~

Reference: Living with Folk Wisdom, AVRotor UST

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Part 5 - The Making of a Plastic Continent

The main Plastic Vortex as big as the state of Texas - and growing - lies north of Hawaii off the coast of Canada and the US. "Islands" of plastics coalesce into the vortex. Dutch scientists propose to convert the floating debris into a livable environment.

Satellite photo below shows ocean currents and gyres responsible in creating the vortex. Canada is directly affected as indicated in the North Pacific Gyre.

Another gyre in the North Atlantic is poised to form another Plastic Vortex along the east coast of the US and Canada. If this happens we might expect a graver consequence as plastic merges with seaweeds that comprise the huge Sargasso Sea. (See lowermost photos, from the Internet)

NOTE: There are other gyres, three in the south hemisphere, all potential spawning grounds of floating garbage.

Study the following photos (Internet).

The 10 Rs of Waste Management
Refuse
Reduce
Reuse
Refill
Repair
Refit
Recycle
Repeat
Reform (our ways)
Revere (Reverence for Life)

How do these 10 Rs relate to these photographs?

How do you apply them in your home and community?

Make a report for your school and organization.

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Join us to honor and celebrate our remarkable planet on this extraordinary day. Earth Day is a reminder of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability, encouraging us to come together and take action for a healthier planet and brighter future.

Through various events, toolkits, and initiatives, we aim to raise awareness, inspire change, and foster a deeper connection with nature. Let's unite in our efforts to protect the Earth today and for generations to come. Together, we can make a meaningful impact and create a more sustainable world. (Internet)

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6 - We are Living in a Plastic World!

Ecology and Humanities

Verses and Photographs by Dr Abe V Rotor

Plastic Elephant, River Cruise at Disneyland HK 2017 Photo by the author.

It moves, it calls your attention,

this virtual elephant.

Oh, it's still fantasy in any name,

work of foolish savant.

Hermit crab finds a home in a PVC elbow joint. (Internet)

We ask, for whom the bell tolls?

Laughable though pitiful,

a hermit crab in a plastic home;

the bell tolls none but the fool.

Potted plastic plants on the sidewalk, HK 2017 Photo by the author.

Warning! Don't touch the plants,

(else you discover they are fake);

make-believe to keep discipline

for peace-and-order's sake.

A flower shop - but which is natural, which is plastic? (Internet)

Plastic flowers everywhere, how lovely can they get,

crowded in a shop they look cheap though;

Not the pet flower of the Little Prince in his planet,

among the stars the whole night through.

The author's grandchildren, Markus and Mackie, trek on Big Buddha

Mountain, HK 2017. Photo by the author.

Playing hide a seek among the prop roots of the Buddha tree,

Perfect to hide, but where's the thrill,

on discovering it's all imitation, lifeless and still,

of plastic, concrete and steel?.

Plastic toys morgue (Internet)

Remnants of childhood's joy and mystery

now in a forgotten cemetery,

So died the laughter, song and fantasy,

of growing up fast to be free.

Food in plastic moulds in a Hongkong restaurant

Pavlov's conditioned learning,

a tool of consumerism;

culinary art indeed deceiving,

everything looks appetizing.

Our waste in the ocean is visible like the tip of an iceberg, 90 percent is down under.

Hidden under the rug of the ocean.

plastic waste to be forgotten;

eons hence submerged and drifting

and we call Nature our friend!

Plastic wastes live for 2000 years, drift with the Gulf Stream, winnowed into

a continent in the making, now the size of Texas. (Internet)

Land of plastics, ahoy there!

floating debris, lifeless and bare;

when the good life is over,

Alas! who would care? ~

Part 7 - Giant Plastic Straw Christmas Tree

(before plastic straw was banned)

Call it Christmas Tree, call it tree of nativity and offering,
to a Messiah when the world seeks for peace and rest;
call it a tree of Conscientization* in shrouded light and truth,
in a modern world deluged with technology and progress.

Giant Christmas Tree made of soft drinks plastic straw - one for the Book of

Guinness. Photos taken by the author at a parish church plaza in Bulacan, circa 2010.

Call it waste turned beautiful by small and innocent hands
into a thousand-and-one stars on a pylon rising to the sky
what we grownups simply throw away and pollute the earth,
and the manufacturers reap profits while the young ones cry.

Call it Christmas Tree, call it tree of nativity and offering,
to a Messiah when the world seeks for peace and rest;
call it a tree of Conscientization* in shrouded light and truth,
in a modern world deluged with technology and progress. ~

Acknowledgement: Internet illustrations

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid Dr Abe V Rotor and Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday.

Relate these events with the following:

1. Pope Francis Laudato Si (Praise Be), a call to save the Earth
2. Canada exporting trash to the Philippines
3. Earth Summits - review and prospects
4. Culture of Consumerism
5. Waste management models
6. Autotoxicity - myth of fact?
7. Global Warming - Erratic Climate and Weather
8. Rising of the Sea Level - Global Flooding
9. Global Leadership challenge
10. Personal concern and action

Part 8 - The 7 Different Types of Plastic

The world is full of plastics. Whether you realize it or not, practically everything you see and use on a daily basis is entirely or partly plastic material. Your television, computer, car, house, refrigerator, and many other essential products utilize plastic materials to make your life easier and more straightforward. However, all plastics are not made alike. Manufacturers utilize a variety of different plastic materials and compounds that each possess unique properties.
Below is 7 of the most popular and commonly used plastics: Acrylic or Polymethyl

Methacrylate (PMMA)
Polycarbonate (PC)
Polyethylene (PE)
Polypropylene (PP)
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE or PET)
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS)

Let’s take a look at each of these distinctive plastics in more detail.

1. Acrylic or Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA)

Well-known for its use in optical devices and products, acrylic is a transparent thermoplastic used as a lightweight, shatter-resistant alternative to glass. Acrylic is typically used in sheet form create products such as acrylic mirrors and acrylic plexiglass. The transparent plastic can be made colored and fluorescent, abrasion-resistant, bullet-resistant, UV-tolerant, non-glare, anti-static and many more. In addition to being than glass and polycarbonate sheeting, acrylic is seventeen times more impact resistant than glass, easier to handle and process, and has endless applications.

2. Polycarbonate (PC)

Tough, stable, and transparent, polycarbonate is an excellent engineering plastic that is as clear as glass and two hundred and fifty times stronger. Thirty times stronger than acrylic, clear polycarbonate sheets are also easily worked, molded, and thermo-formed or cold-formed. Although extremely strong and impact-resistant, polycarbonate plastic possesses inherent design flexibility. Unlike glass or acrylic, polycarbonate plastic sheets can be cut or cold-formed on site without pre-forming and fabrication. Polycarbonate plastic is in a wide variety of products including greenhouses, DVDs, sunglasses, police riot gear, and more.

3. Polyethylene (PE)

The most common plastic on earth, polyethylene can be manufactured in varying densities. Each different density of polyethylene gives the final plastic unique physical properties. As a result, polyethylene is in a wide variety of products.

Here are the four common polyethylene densities: Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)

This density of polyethylene is ductile and used to make products like shopping bags, plastic bags, clear food containers, disposable packaging, etc. Medium-Density Polyethylene (MDPE)

Possessing more polymer chains and, thus, greater density, MDPE is typically in gas pipes, shrink film, carrier bags, screw closures, and more. High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)

More rigid than both LDPE and MDPE, HDPE plastic sheeting is in products such as plastic bottles, piping for water and sewer, snowboards, boats, and folding chairs. Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE)

UHMWPE is not much denser than HDPE. Compared to HDPE, this polyethylene plastic much more abrasion resistant due to the extreme length of its polymer chains. Possessing high density and low friction properties, UHMWPE is in military body armor, hydraulic seals and bearings, biomaterial for hip, knee, and spine implants, and artificial ice skating rinks.

4. Polypropylene (PP)

This plastic material is a thermoplastic polymer and the world’s second-most widely produced synthetic plastic. Its widespread use and popularity are undoubted because polypropylene is one of the most flexible thermoplastics on the planet. Although PP is stronger than PE, it still retains flexibility. It will not crack under repeated stress. Durable, flexible, heat resistant, acid resistance, and cheap, polypropylene sheets are used to make laboratory equipment, automotive parts, medical devices, and food containers. Just to name a few.

5. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE or PET)

The most common thermoplastic resin of the polyester family, PET is the fourth-most produced synthetic plastic. Polyethylene Terephthalate has excellent chemical resistance to organic materials and water and is easily recyclable. It is practically shatterproof and possesses an impressive high strength to weight ratio. This plastic material is in fibers for clothing, containers for foods and liquid, glass fiber for engineering resins, carbon nanotubes, and many other products that we use on a daily basis.

6. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

The third-most produced synthetic plastic polymer, PVC can be manufactured to possess rigid or flexible properties. It is well-known for its ability to blend with other materials. For example, expanded PVC sheets are a foamed polyvinyl chloride material that is ideal products like kiosks, store displays, and exhibits. The rigid form of PVC is commonly in construction materials, doors, windows, bottles, non-food packaging, and more. With the addition of plasticizers such as phthalates, the softer and more flexible form of PVC is in plumbing products, electrical cable insulation, clothing, medical tubing, and other similar products.

7. Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS)

Created by polymerizing styrene and acrylonitrile in the presence of polybutadiene, ABS is robust, flexible, glossy, highly processable, and impact resistant. It can be manufactured in a range of thicknesses from 200 microns to 5mm with a maximum width of 1600mm. With a relatively low manufacturing cost, ABS plastic sheeting is typically used in the automotive and refrigeration industries but is also in products such as boxes, gauges, protective headgear, luggage, and children’s toys.

9. PLASMOG: Plastic-Smoke-Fog

Triumvirate in the Air

International Plastic-Free Day, May 25, 2026

Dr Abe V Rotor

Former Professorial Lecturer, UST, DLSU-D, SPU-QC, UPHR

Plastic disintegrates, enters body via bloodstream

PLASMOG Plastic-Smoke-Fog - Triumvirate in the Air.

Detail of painting. Plastic undergoing degradation into microplastic (dispersed into the air) and nanoplastic that enters the body through the lungs and bloodstream.

Plasmog rules the sky at sunrise and sunset, robbing the joy of waking up and disturbing our peace at angelus and rest;

Plasmog covers the sky like a huge crown depriving us to marvel at the brightness of the sun, moon and stars;

Plasmog deprives us to breath freely the freshness of air and breeze, enjoy watching the rainbow, the sparkle of dew and rain;

Plasmog hovers over cities trapping millions under a blanket of sick air

deleterious to health and well-being;

Plasmog settles nil and slow, leaving much of its unpleasant residues on our table, bedroom, parks and playground;

Plasmog recycles daily at increasing rate and coverage, picking up new and more pollutants in the process;

Plasmog exacerbates generation and accumulation of pollutants on land,

water, and air on a global scale;

Plasmog is everywhere, in our home, school, garbage dump, landfill, traffic lanes, etc., in increasing presence;

Plasmog degenerates in microplastic and nanoplastic, releases its basic components, independent of Nature's cycle;

Plasmog challenges human intellect and rationality, science, technology - philosophy, notwithstanding. Are we killing ourselves?

Plasmog enters cells of living organisms through various means, such as bloodstream in animals and humans;

Plasmog interferes with immunity and natural resistance, predisposing us to cancer, kidney failure and other ailments;

Plasmog questions the relevance and sincerity of our religious faith, ideological values, under our seeming indifference;

Plasmog urges us to reduce to a safe level this a by-product of our highly industrial world, for the sake of humanity;

Plasmogs robs us of Nature's beauty and the Good Life, all in the name of

progress and affluence.

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ANNEX - Plastic-Smoke-Fog triumvirate

The "Plastic-Smoke-Fog triumvirate" describes the toxic atmospheric mix of microplastics, combustion smoke (like from wildfires or incinerators), and natural or industrial fog. This combination creates an insidious, hazardous haze that traps volatile chemicals and worsens global air quality.

Plastic: Microplastics and nanoplastics constantly float through urban and rural air, often transported long distances by wind currents and sea spray. When plastic is burned, it releases persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and toxic micro-particulates.

Smoke: Smoke from unregulated plastic waste burning or wildfires contains a dangerous cocktail of chemicals, including dioxins, heavy metals, and styrene.

Fog: Fog droplets act as micro-reactors that can absorb these toxic airborne chemicals and trap particulate matter near the ground. Acknowledgement Sources Wikipedia/Internet,

ANNEX - National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP)

THE GROWING THREAT OF MICROPLASTICS AND PLASTICS

The World Bank estimates that the Philippines use an overwhelming 163 million pieces of sachets per day. A staggering 2.3 million tons of plastic waste are generated in the country annually. Unfortunately, only 28% of key plastic resins are being recycled while the rest are simply discarded. So, where does the remaining 72% of these plastics go? To find it, one no longer needs to go to the nearest scrap shop but they can simply open their refrigerators.

In celebration of the National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) 2022, the National Research Council of the Philippines made the call to increase awareness in the growing threat of microplastics and plastics on food security, environment, and health by featuring NRCP-funded Projects on plastics in the marine environment and microplastic contamination among marine species.

Flow of how plastics and microplastics from environment affect food

security and health

Despite the convenience and other benefits brought about by the invention of plastics, shown above is the general flow of how these materials negatively affect our environment, food security, and health. A presentation of NRCP-funded project titled, Marine Microbes and Plastic Debris: Research Status and Opportunities in the Philippines by Balik Scientist and UP Diliman Associate Professor in Marine Science Institute Dr. Deo Florence Onda, the plastic-microbe interactions in marine environments and its implications with the unresolved plastic pollution issues in the country was discussed.

Scientist and UP Diliman Associate Professor in Marine Science Institute Dr. Deo Florence Onda; NRCP Regular Member from the Division of Engineering and Industrial Research, Dr. Rey Y. Capangpangan

Dr. Onda’s team sampled 240 mussels in eight (8) study sites such as the wet market in Marikina, fish port in Navotas, fish landing center in Bacoor, riverside in Obando, aquaculture farms in Antique, Bayabay, Macelelon, and Bicol. Dismally, 100% of the samples have tested positive for microplastics. Most of the plastics found in their study are type 4 plastics such as thin plastic wraps, labels, packaging, foamed fragments, fishing lines, nets and ropes, bags, straws, and pipettes.

The Balik Scientist speaker, Dr. Onda, reiterated that there is a need to support and strengthen plastic research in the Philippines given the implications of plastics and microplastics in various aspects of our lives.

It is even more alarming to know that pieces of evidence from the study led by NRCP Regular Member from the Division of Engineering and Industrial Research, Dr. Rey Y. Capangpangan, proves that plastic debris and microplastics are present in various fish, sediment, water, and benthic organisms.

Through the NRCP-funded project titled, Assessment of plastic debris and of microplastics in different specimen (fish, sediment, water, benthic organisms) in selected aquatic environments in Mindanao and exploration of relative stress biomarkers, Dr. Capangpangan and his research team discovered that “microplastics are found in cultured and in wild and in nekton and benthos organisms.”

Of the 383 extracted particles collected from 30 bangus samples in Butuan and Nasipit Fish Cage, 235 were confirmed to be microplastics. Meanwhile, out of 163 extracted particles from 135 individual mud clams in mangrove stations along Butuan Bay, 30 were also confirmed as microplastics.

NRCP Regular Member from the Division of Engineering and Industrial Research, Dr. Rey Y. Capangpangan

DOST Secretary Dr. Renato U. Solidum, Jr. stated the importance of the NRCP’s NSTW webinar as this is a step to ensure that while we profit from our natural resources, we should also ensure its sustainability for the benefit of Filipinos in the future.

Indeed, “Big threats come in small particles” National Research Council of the Philippines’ Executive Director Dr. Marieta Bañez-Sumagaysay emphasized as she closed the hybrid event.

Written By: Regine Pustadan, Information. THE GROWING THREAT OF MICROPLASTICS AND PLASTICS.

Acknowledgement with thanks, Dr AV Rotor. For radio broadcast reference on TATAKalikasan AdMU, (Hosts Fr JM Manzano SJ, & Prof Emoy Rodolfo, AdMU; Guests: Dr Hernando Bacosa, JR Romerate, and Jerome Tejano), Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid and Usapang Bayan (Host: Ms Melly Tenorio).

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* Plastic Free July is a global movement encouraging people to reduce single-use plastic waste throughout the month of July and beyond. Plastic Free July is an annual campaign that began in 2011 in Western Australia, founded by Rebecca Prince-Ruiz and a small team in local government. It encourages individuals, communities, schools, and workplaces to refuse single-use plastics such as bags, bottles, straws, and coffee cups, and to adopt sustainable alternatives The initiative has grown into a global movement, with over 100 million participants in 190 countries, making it one of the largest environmental campaigns worldwide. Internet

Monday, July 13, 2026

Take the Lighter - and Brighter - Side of Life with Nature

Saturday, July 11, 2026

July 2026 is Plastic-Free Month: Let Us All Join the Global Plastic-Free Movement

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