Abstract:
Plastics have become ubiquitous ever since their introduction into our environment in the 1950s. it is currently extensively used in our day-to-day life. Various properties of plastic, its functionality, and relatively low cost make them a preferred choice for the creation of a wide range of products. Today it is very difficult to imagine life without the use of plastic products in one or the other form. Even agriculture cannot be excluded from the use of plastic products. Various modern agricultural practices employ a wide range of plastic products like mulches, irrigation pipes, etc., to help improve productivity. Although initially the use of plastic was intended to make life easy for humans but gradually due to its extensive use it has started becoming a problem for the environment. The properties that make plastics so useful, concomitantly create problems for the environment when they reach the end of their intended lives. Due to the use of diverse polymers and additives blended into plastic sorting and recycling becomes more difficult also being a man-made polymer, it can only be degraded by very few microorganisms. This results in plastic remaining persistent in the environment for many decades once they enter it. As the world’s demand for plastics increases, leakage into the environment also increases thereby hindering efforts to mitigate environmental contamination. Once they enter the environment plastic can cause harm in several different ways. The adverse effect of large plastic polymers is very well documented in various studies conducted on the marine environment but when these large polymers degrade their impact becomes more adverse as it starts not only individuals at the cellular level but also potentially the entire ecosystem. Thus the current review is intended to stimulate a discussion on making use of plastic products in agriculture only where they are very essentially required keeping in mind their hazardous effect on human health as well as the environment. It also aims at transforming the agricultural production system and achieving sustainable food security without compromising the health of the ecosystem.