Title: How Does Plastic Cause Air Pollution? | rePurpose Global Blog
Headings: How Does Plastic Cause Air Pollution?
How Does Plastic Cause Air Pollution?
1. The Extraction of Plastic’s Raw Material: Oil
2. The Impact of the Recycling Industry on Air Quality
3. Incineration of Plastic Materials
4. Plastics Ability to “Off-Gas”
Breathe In, Breath Out: What next?

Content: Oil
Most plastics are made from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas, which release toxic emissions when extracted from our earth. Oil and gas drilling releases enormous amounts of contaminants into the air, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds. Oil refineries convert crude oil into a vast array of products, including plastic, and require several operational stages that emit dozens of pollutants that are making our skies smoggier, hazier, and more toxic to breathe, in addition to fueling global warming. 2. The Impact of the Recycling Industry on Air Quality
Recycling plastic today is surely a big step towards preventing more virgin plastic from being produced, thus lowering our environmental impact. Tossing our plastic bottles and packaging into the recycling bin makes us feel good. But plastic recycling can become a problem when it does not follow strict environmental and workforce standards. Did you know that over half of our plastics deemed to be “recycled” are shipped overseas? Unfortunately, many informal and formal recycling facilities in South and Southeast Asia fail to have safe working conditions and pollution control measures. Lian Jiao is a Chinese town that had become a toxic waste dump for the West’s plastic recycling.