Question

The use of disposable paper cups is more beneficial over disposable plastic cups, because
A) It is cheaper
B) It is easily available.
C) It can be reused.
D) Its recycling process has no harmful impact on the environment.

Answer 1

Hint: Plastics are described as a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials and are used in a different type of applications. They are utilized in several ranges of domestic and industrial purposes. Extreme and indiscriminate uses of plastic leads to various harmful effects on the environment.

Complete answer:
Environmental contamination leading to disturbances in physical and biological components causes undue changes and leads to adverse effects on the ecosystem. The contamination results in release of harmful components in the atmosphere. The pollution caused by the accumulation of plastic objects and particles are termed as plastic pollution. Plastic act as pollutants as they are resistant to natural degradation.
The materials released into the environment may be biodegradable or non-biodegradable elements. The plastics are synthetic polymers and degrade very slowly in the released atmosphere. They are included under the non-biodegradable pollutants as they are very slow to degrade by the process of environmental actions.
The biodegradable wastes are easily degraded by the action of natural agencies such as microorganism. They do not get accumulated in the environment to create pollution. Paper cups are biodegradable materials as paper is made from biological elements and they are easily decomposed into the environment by the action of microorganism. The paper cups can be easily recycled and they act as biofriendly materials. On the other hand, as plastic cannot be decomposed easily, the use of paper cups leads to plastic pollution as they do not decompose easily or tend to decompose very slowly. The plastic materials are also known to release toxins into the environment.
Due to these several harmful effects of plastic cups, the plastic cups should not be used. On the contrary, the use of disposable paper cups is more beneficial to the environment as it is easily degradable and its complete process of recycling does not have any harmful impact on the environment.

Therefore, the correct option is option D.

Note: The environmental pollution is the result of very slow degradation of several types of products that do not decompose easily by the action of several external factors. Plastic is one of the prime causes of pollution and cannot be destroyed easily. The paper cups are disposable and easily degraded and so they should be used over plastic cups as the recycling process does not cause harmful effects on the environment.