This is the main point of
difference between plastic pollution and other types of pollution. You cannot
remove or even mitigate it once you generate it intentionally or unintentionally.
Yes plastic material cannot be decomposed even in centuries. It is non-degradable
and will remain in its ugliest shape while hitting our environment.
Why plastic bags
Convenience is the main reason of
rising usage of plastic. We want to carry usable items to the maximum possible
convenience. Secondly after huge surge in consumerism we want to shop all our
needs in one-go and for that we want to carry as much items as possible in our
two hands. For this purpose plastic bags and baskets serve our purpose
excellently. That is why we use plastic bags without thinking of their harmful
effects on environment and create plastic pollution.
Plastic is non-degradable
You would be surprised to know
that if we throw away a plastic bottle it cannot be decomposed by itself even
in thousands of years. If we burn it then its smoke will create air pollution
and directly affect our lungs with its poisonous gases. If we throw it into a
water bodies it will release liquid into the water creating water pollution to
affect marine life and human beings if it is drinking water. Similarly if we
through a plastic bag it will litter around because of its light weight and can
choke the drainage system and will cause garbage pollution. If power supply is
in open wirings it can also stick into them to create the danger of electric
short circuit.
Minimum service life
All items of plastic material turn
into plastic pollution after end of their service life. Most of them have
lowest minimum service life. We buy a soft drink, consume it in minutes and
throw its plastic bottle. It takes maximum ten to fifteen minutes. Similarly we
shop grocery, come back home, store the grocery and throw away the plastic
shopping bag. Its service life ends here. It means minimum service life of
plastic is the main cause of rising level of plastic pollution. We make our
kids buy plastic toys; they play with them for some days, then get bore with
them and ask us to buy them more.
So the two most dangerous factors
attached to plastic pollution are;
- Plastic is non-degradable material
- Service life of most of the plastic items is the lowest minimum
Rising trend of plastic usage
Half century ago the ratio of
plastic material in solid waste generated in US was 2 per cent. Now it has
reached the 12 per cent and it is on the rise consistently. Secondly the price
of any plastic material is equal to the cost of its disposal in environmental
friendly manner. For example if we buy a bottle of plastic at half dollar and
discard it after usage then again it will take half dollar to make it reusable
through recycling process. It means you produce a new plastic bottle or recycle
the older one cost is the same. Moreover, its reuse will again promote the
culture of using plastic material for the convenience. It will create its more
demand and ultimately more plastic pollution will be generated.
Solution for plastic pollution
Avoidance of the usage of plastic
material is the only solution of plastic pollution. We at least use items of
alternative material as much as we can to play our role in the mitigation of
this eternal type of pollution. Yes we have to compromise a little over
convenience because what is the use of such comfort which we get at the cost of our environment. If our environment gets polluted we would be the worst victim
of various diseases. So should we use plastic material as sick person or resort
to any alternative as healthy person. Choice is yours.
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