Engineer Zakai: Plastics and polymers can help protect the environment

According to Inpia , the second symposium, Monday, July 2, 1931 on reducing plastic consumption to improve quality Environment with the presence of representatives from chain stores including Yaran Daryan, heads of the restaurant owners’ union, Tehran self-services, food and food sellers, the National Association of Plastic Industries and Polymer Iran, Center for Municipal Studies and Planning, Municipal Beautification and Urban Planning Organization, Tehran Environment Department, Health Department, Tehran Municipality Environment and Sustainable Development Center, and Ministry of Health was held.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Amini, Secretary of the Health Committee, presented an overview of the global situation of plastic consumption and the existing challenges. According to the report, there are 13 million tons of plastic in the oceans, which will triple by 2025. Also in Iran, due to the low price of plastic bags, 500,000 tons of plastic is produced, of which a very small percentage is recyclable. The global challenge today is to combat the entry of microplastics into the cycle of water, air, food and soil, which can unfortunately lead to respiratory diseases, cancer, and so on. Due to the importance of this year’s World Environment Day, the slogans “No to plastic bags” and “No to non-recyclable” were raised.

After a short introduction, the participants expressed their views, challenges and suggestions to reduce the consumption of plastic, especially plastic bags in Iranian families.

Engineer Saeed Zakai, member of the board of directors of the National Association of Plastic Industries and Polymer in this meeting Emphasizing the importance of environmental concerns, he said: “At first glance, there is a negative attitude towards the plastics industry in public opinion, but the plastics industry can act in favor of the environment for several reasons.” The head of the technical commission of the National Association, while presenting several reports on the benefits of this industry for the environment, continued: In industries such as automobiles, construction, packaging containers, etc., we see that plastics and Polymer s work to protect the environment. For example, in the automotive industry, the use of polymer materials and plastic parts reduces the weight of cars And further, their fuel consumption has been reduced, in the building industry of thermal insulation polymer It reduces greenhouse gases, prevents energy loss and reduces energy consumption. Also, in the packaging industry, when suitable plastic coatings are used, these containers reduce the rate of spoilage of food and cause 70 units of less CO2 gas to be released into the air. If only 5 units of CO2 gas is produced for the production of plastic containers.

Engineer Zakai further emphasized: The view that the plastic industry causes damage to the environment is completely wrong. What causes damage to the environment is the “culture” of the indiscriminate use of plastic materials and disposable containers, as well as their release into the environment. Instead of using plastics indiscriminately, we can use a plastic bag several times and also not leave them in nature. Another issue is the issue of recycling, which requires technical and cultural infrastructure. Plastic material recycling tools and machines are part of the technical infrastructure and recyclable waste segregation is also related to cultural infrastructure. Therefore, the plastic industry is not only not harmful to the environment, but also has very high efficiency in protecting the environment.

In the continuation of this meeting, with the explanations of Mr. Zakai, the audience and the speakers were convinced that when it comes to “no to plastic”, this “no” is not to the plastic industry and is in fact to the way of use and the culture of its users.