Writing Resources
In the year 2012 an estimated 280 million tonnes of plastic was manufactured worldwide Almost half of it was transmitted to landfill or were reused Nonbiodegradable plastic waste can physically harm the ecosystem Additionally many plastics can be chemically harmful in some situations because they are themselves toxic or because they absorb other waste products Rochman 2013 Plastic waste has caused increasing environmental concerns which resulted in strengthening of regulations in order to minimize loads of packaging waste Among many other materials a large range of oil based polymers is currently utilized in packaging applications They are mainly non biodegradable and for the most part hard to recycle or reuse because of mixed levels of contamination and complex mixtures In recent years the improvement of biodegradable packaging instruments from renewable natural resources has gained increasing attention worldwide Davis 2006 The water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes is a tropical species belonging to the pickerelweed family Pontederiaceae It is a free floating aquatic plant well known for its production abilities and removal of toxins from water It can rapidly grow to very high densities thereby completely clogging water bodies which in turn may have negative effects on the environment human health and economic development Malik 2007
