📘 Q.1 IAS Prelims 2025 — Environment & Ecology (Plastic Pollution)
🧷 Authentic Classroom Explanation by IAS Monk
📌 The Question:
Environment & Ecology
Consider the following:
I. Cigarette butts
II. Eyeglass lenses
III. Car tyres
How many of them contain plastic?
(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) All the three
(d) None
✅ Correct Answer: (c) All the three
🔎 Curiosity Raiser
If “plastic” is only bottles and bags, why do scientists say tyres may be a bigger microplastic source than packaging in many regions?
🌿 Enrich Notes
- Cigarette butts = cellulose acetate (a plastic). They persist for years and leach toxins into soil and water.
- Eyeglass lenses: common materials include CR-39, polycarbonate, Trivex (all plastics).
- Tyres: made with synthetic polymers; friction releases tyre-wear particles that behave like microplastics.
- UPSC Trap Reminder: If it “looks natural” (like cottony cigarette filter), it can still be plastic-based.
🧠 Authentic Classroom Explanation
- I. Cigarette butts
Filters are made of cellulose acetate (plastic polymer). ✔️ Plastic - II. Eyeglass lenses
Mostly CR-39 / polycarbonate / Trivex. ✔️ Plastic - III. Car tyres
Contain synthetic rubber polymers; abrasion creates microplastic-like particles. ✔️ Plastic
Therefore: all three contain plastic → Option (c).
🕯️ IAS Monk Whisper
The planet isn’t choking only on what we throw away,
but also on what we keep using, quietly… every day.