PLASTICS. They're cheap, easy to manufacture, versatile and impervious to water. They're everywhere. Most of them are also non-biodegradable which means that they are not capable of being decomposed by bacteria and other living organisms, effectively leaving us with a 'housing' issue on our hands. Some of them end up in landfills, where they are incinerated. Because plastics are mostly organic compounds, they give out carbon (iv) oxide and water when burned. Carbon (iv) oxide, also known as carbon dioxide, is a green house gas and its accumulation in the ozone layer leads to global warming. Other plastics find their way to water bodies and end up being ingested by marine life which leads to their chocking to death from constriction and blockage of their airways by the plastics or dying from starvation because of the immense amount of plastics occupying their digestive system. Other complications may also occur.

There are different types of plastics and polystyrene is one of them. Polystyrene is inexpensive, readily available, non toxic, odorless and white in color, making it the more versatile. It glues well, sands well and paints well. Its numerous applications include making medical devices such as test tubes and petri dishes, making items we encounter on a day-to-day basis such as smoke detectors, CD cases and containers for food and drinks making packaging material, making prototypes and making models. It can be found in foam form eg styrofoam and in regular plastic form and also in film form.

Given that polystyrene, like other plastics, is very versatile, replacing it is an uphill task. For instance, here in  Kenya, the government tried getting supermarkets and shops to stop packaging goods in plastics bags and instead use paper bags. While this was a step in the right direction, the government noticed an increase in deforestation activities because the brown paper bags were being made, just as paper for books and newspapers, from wood. It was a situation of being between a rock and a hard place. This led to the government rescinding their initial proclamation, which leads to the question, how do we remove plastics from our lives without having to resort to options that will be harmful for the environment? Is there a way we can use plastics without causing harm to the environment?

Well, for polystyrene, the answer is yes. The main problem that comes with using plastics is that they are not biodegradable. This is no longer a problem with polystyrene, as it has been discovered to be biodegradable. However, because it is inert and therefore lasts a long time in the natural environment, it is not to be left out to degrade because that won't happen. Instead, it should be collected and put in decomposition plants and a population of the bacterium Pseudomonas putida introduced. P. putida converts styrene oil into the biodegradable plastic PHA. This concept can be used in the effective recycling of polystyrene. Additionally, mealworms have been shown to be able to eat polystyrene and degrade it in their guts. This can be used to effectively deal with polystyrene waste.

References.
1. Wikipedia.
2. Harvard Health Publications.