Plastic Pollution - A Cancer in Nature

Plastic is one of the new and worst chemical materials which cause serious environment pollution and is certainly a cancer in nature. Plastic is regarded to be a biological hazard since it is almost non- degradable. Tonnes of Plastic waste are dumped everyday into the earth all over the world. Plastic pollution is destroying the world’s ocean ecosystems as a lot of waste is flushed into the ocean.

Reasons for Plastic Pollution

Plastic is used very commonly in the world because they are cheap, easy to make and they will last long as well. But sorry to say, these useful qualities make plastic a real menace to the environment. As it is so cheap that people discards it soon especially carry bags and disposable bottles. As these materials are longlasting and difficult to decompose, it persists in the earth for many centuries resulting in enormous environment pollution. As a result of urbanization, most of the pollution is concentrated in cities.

Synthetic polymers can easily be moulded into different shapes, while some can be made into thin film like bits and pieces, which became very accepted in form of durable and disposable carrybags and packing materials. These materials when thrown out after use remains in the soil in the same form as it is non-biodegradable.

According to latest studies, up to 105 million tonnes of plastic is produced yearly in the world, out of which only 2.5 million tonnes is produced in India. The use of plastic in western and european countries is averaging 70 kg per person per year, while in India it is 4 kg per person per year. Anyhow its on the rise all over the world.

The amount of plastic waste in the ocean is rapidly growing as well. Close to 85% of objects found in the beaches contains traces of polymers. Most of the rubbish found on the beaches is packaging materials. This is a real threat to the life and habitat of marine wild life especially turtles as well as seabirds. In reality, Plastic pollution is a much bigger threat than ozone hole and global warming.

Ways for prevention

• The best way to protect ourselves from this lethal hazard is to avoid the usage of non-biodegradable carry bags.
• Instead it can be substituted by durable and re-usable jute bags or canvas bags.
• Manufacturing companies should find brown paper or other alternatives for packaging and wrapping cartons.
• Supermarkets should replace plastic bags with paper or jute bags at checkout counters.

Let’s do our part to protect our environment from pollution and thus build a green world for tomorrow.

Please put in your suggestions to prevent plastic pollution in the below comments section.

Thanks,

Vinesh