When the parade season ends in 2014, the city government of New Orleans spends $ 1.5 million to take about 1,500 tons of Mardi Gras induced waste, which consists mostly of beads. This is a recurring problem every year for the city. In addition, the city must also face the environmental impact experienced after Mardi Gras. Because they are not biodegradable and contain heavy metals in large quantities, Mardi Gras beads locate the local environment and the health of the inhabitants of southern Louis in jeopardy.
Video Environmental impact of Mardi Gras beads
Bead composition
Polyethylene and polystyrene are popular plastics used in beads. Polystyrene is very stable and can last for decades because the beads are lying in landfills. Eventually, it will begin to slowly oxidize through UV rays from the sun. In contrast, polystyrene can not decompose with UV radiation and biodegrades very slowly.
Lead, cadmium, and other elements have been detected in very high beads through various analytical techniques. Many of these elements exceed the recommended security limits set by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. For example, the amount of lead in a product is 100 ppm; However, there are findings where the amount of lead in a bead exceeds the limit of 300 times. This threatens the audience of parades with high tin exposure, especially young people who potentially put beads in their mouths.
Maps Environmental impact of Mardi Gras beads
Login to environment
The beads can inadvertently enter the empty storm channel, which is empty to Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The metal in the beads puts fish and other sea creatures at risk of lead poisoning and cadmium. Exposure to these metals in water causes a high mortality rate and an increase in the biomass of these metals among fish species within a month of exposure. Seafood is prevalent in the southern Louisiana diet, which is largely harvested from the Gulf. Eating seafood contaminated with lead and cadmium makes people at risk of poisoning.
Beads can also be trapped in the tree during the parade. Here, lead in the beads can be cleaned through rainwater and find its way to the leaves and soil. Lead has been shown to be a cell division inhibitor, water uptake, and photosynthesis, eventually causing death in plants.
Impact on humans
Lead exposure has been shown to significantly inhibit neurological function. One study examined identical twins who worked together as painters using lead-based paints. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, it was found that they both had lead levels in their bones about 5-10 times more than the average adult. One twin puts himself at risk of higher lead exposure because he is the only one who removes paint on the job. The concentration of lead is 2.5 times higher than its twin; and after further testing, his memory proved far worse than his twin.
Cadmium has been shown to be carcinogenic because of interaction with DNA topoisomerase II. This enzyme helps facilitate cell division and DNA repair, especially with multiple strand breaks. The cadmium cation reacts with topoisomerase in the following manner:
8 Cd 2 topoisomerase II? - 8H - & gt; topoisomerase II? - 8 Cd 2
Here, the cadmium ion reacts with a sulfur-containing thiol group in the cysteine ​​residue, effectively destroying the structure and function of the topoisomerase.
Solution
Mardi Gras is unlikely to be canceled due to its cultural and economic interests, but concerted efforts can still be made to curb the negative environmental effects of the beads. One of the recommended ways is to replace the plastic used today with polylactic acid (PLA), which is more environmentally friendly. These polymers can be naturally degraded into lactic acid through hydrolysis or self-hydrolysis, which describes all PLA products as quickly as a month. The second way is to "recycle" by buying used beads rather than buying new ones, which can also save krewe members money.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments