Can one imagine a world without synthetic materials? In all practically impossible. They make our life so easy and comfortable. Right up front is PVC (Polyvinylchloride) which is present in practical every household. In your home and at the workplace one comes across PVC Shoe soles, Electric Cables, Table Cloth’s, Records, Shopping and Municipal Waste bags and Children’s Toys. This all round material is cheap in price for these but only a few applications.
The production process and its eventual disposal will one day become a very costly exercise. The question “Why do we not act instead of talking about the problem?” In our homes, PVC floor covering, 62 different dangerous gases have been located, all thse are likely to cause cancer.
We now come to a very important issue, namely PVC being destroyed by incineration. Out of these chimneys blow true rain of heavy metals, hydrochloride acid dioxide. All this comes down onto the pastures and arable land as well as our forests. For packaging of consumable goods alone 75 000 t are annually used in Germany only. Soft PVC mostly used in the manufacture of adhesive foils, wall papers, office and many household utensils, also in children’s toys is a dangerous product. To give these a soft appearance and its flexibility a number of softening agents are added in the manufacturing process, mostly the chemical substance DEHP. Clinical tests have shown, distortions in the functioning of the liver, kidneys, lungs and also the immune system.
PVC itself is already a waste product. In the manufacturing process a large quantity of chloride products, waste materials from Soap and Paper industry, together with various Crude oil components produces Vinyl chloride which in turn is a vital component in the manufacture process to produce Polyvinylchloride. To make this material resistant to sunlight (Ultraviolet Rays) and other atmospheric conditions a number of stabilizers like Lead and Tin are added. This in turn produces waste material in the form of low viscosity acids which for years now pollute our ground water, rivers, lakes and oceans, thus affecting our marine lives and its eventual existence.
To recycle PVC is a complicated process, since all other synthetic materials have to be removed first. However, this is no easy process, since these materials are not always easy identifiable. Environmentalists around the globe are asking for years for clear distinguished markings of these PVC products. Until such time the Industrialists come up with a solution to this problem, you can assist by separating the chaf from the corn, by minimizing the purchase of any such products. The solution to this is buy products manufactured from natural materials such as recycable glass, glass bottles, toys made from wood or other materials. Floor covering made from Linoleum and wall cladding from paper products.
Also remember : Flowers and other Pot plants do prefer clay or ceramic pots, they do, you can be assured, produce a much healthier and happy plant. When buying shoes etc. one should consider buying shoes with leather or rubber soles, they are also much healthier for your hard working feet.
God gave us only one world to live in, no other place has yet been discovered for us to move to. FOR OUR MUNICIPAL COUNCIL TO TAKE NOTE : RECYCLING IS THE ANSWER – NOT INCINERATING (BURNING). Boney ‘M’ song “We kill the world, don’t let it die” should always be in the back of our mind.
Heinz Vornam, Venterstad
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(072)806-1748
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