PLASTIC AND FIFA WORLD CUP
Plastics play a role in virtually every element of football – from supporting player safety to bringing the level of play to new heights.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, an international football tournament contested by the men’s national teams of the member associations of FIFA once every four years. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018. The influence of plastics in sport, across disciplines including the FIFA World Cup, is something we have to live with. You don’t need plastics in sumo wrestling, perhaps, but then again, one can’t be too sure these days .As the use of plastic is on large scale.Try and think of any sport that can survive without PLASTIC.
Before plastics, professional footballs consisted of an inflatable rubber bladder, a cotton lining and a stitched leather cover. Consider the Adidas ball of the 2010 FIFA World Cup — the Jabulani. Developed by engineers and scientists at Loughborough University, the UK, the construction of the ball comprised eight 3D spherically moulded panels which were thermally bonded together. These panels were made of EVA and TPU, moulded together to deliver a perfectly round shape. The unique ‘Grip ’n’ Groove’ profile of the ball ensured stable flight and a perfect grip in any weather condition. All of this were made possible, because of plastic. It is impossible now, to think of football minus the plastic or any sport for that matter. Let us, for the moment forget about the ball and instead move on to footwear. Football boots (or for that matter any athletic footwear) is all about being light. The UK-based company, Zotefoams, could never have developed the world’s lightest footwear without plastics. It developed a special foam for midsoles and insoles for trainers and football boots which was five times lighter than EVA foam, and with higher temperature resistance. Now athletes can run faster due to the better energy return from the shoe they are sprinting in. Plastics have liberated sports equipment design. Even clothing has changed. The modern (made with plastics) sportswear is waterproof and can be designed to minimise the wind resistance of an athlete’s body. The new jerseys make use of a combination of cotton and recycled polymer. They can also be easily coloured and decorated to help ease recognition for spectators and officials. Teams now conveniently make kits out of recycled plastic waste. Plastic products facilitate the safe enjoyment of major sporting events. Comfortable, ergonomically optimal seats, to hold, say, the swinging 60,000 football fans. Safe to say then, that plastic cannot be eliminated from sporting life. plastics also play a role in the protective pads football players wear beneath their uniforms. Most shoulder pads consist of a shock absorbing foam material with a hard plastic outer shell. Hip and tailbone pads are made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and protect the hips, pelvis, and tailbone. Thigh and knee pads are made of plastics and inserted into pockets constructed inside the football pants. Football pants themselves are manufactured in nylon mesh or nylon and spandex for a tight fit for games.
In FIFA Women’s World Cup, Nike revealed its latest kit for the the 2015 U.S. Women’s National Team. Each kit is made using an average of 18 recycled bottles. Each piece of the kit — the jersey, shorts and socks — is constructed with recycled polyester, which is made from recycled plastic bottles that are melted down to produce fine yarn used to create the fabric. Since 2010, Nike has diverted more than two billion plastic bottles from landfills into recycled polyester — enough to cover about 3,500 football pitches. By using recycled polyester Nike is also reducing the energy consumed in the manufacturing process by up to 30 percent compared to virgin polyester.
Less than 1% of all single use plastic items are recycled. They mostly end up either in your nearest landfill, or the nearest ocean—carried by flying street litter into a stormwater drain, dumped into a sewage drain, flowing into a river, or thanks to a picnic last weekend at the beach. Stadiums are enclosed, highly controlled spaces, with little in terms of unscanned input or output. Most plastic waste from the stadiums, though is generally clubbed together with trash and thrown towards the garbage pile. Straws, plates, wrappers, packets are all part of this problem. Smarter management will ensure that all plastic waste from stadiums is directed towards plastic recycling facilities.
Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastic and reprocessing the material into useful products. Reuse is the action or practice of using something again, whether for its original purpose. Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Recycling can benefit your community and the environment.