Plastic Free Life

Contents:

·         Introduction

·         Sources of plastic bags

·         Toxicity of plastic bags

·         Solutions

One of the most often nagged about “bad guys” in the environmental battle is plastic bags. Plastic bags contamination is gigantic and at the same time intensely personal environmental problem. We touch and see plastic every day of our lives. With every visit to the grocery store we can readily see our waste footprint grow. Plastic is found in essentially everything these days. While most plastics are publicized as recyclable, the reality is that they're “down-cycled.” A plastic milk pack can never be recycled into another pack — it can be made into a lower-quality item like plastic planks, which can’t be recycled.

Millions of plastic bags are given out to consumers by hypermarkets and stores to carry their goods in. They are cheap, light, long-lasting, easy to carry and in many cases, free. Most commonly used shopping bags are made up of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). After these bags are castoff, they often end up in landfills or as litter. Plastics are considered as pollutants because these are non-biodegradable & cannot be decomposed into environmentally safe materials by the action of soil bacteria (aerobic or anaerobic digestion). These are toxic and take roughly four hundred years to breakdown.

Although Plastic bags are appear to be delicate and light, their negative environmental effects are devastating. They may cause large amounts of pollution in every step of life cycle.  Manufacturing of plastic bags subsidizes to air pollution and energy consumption. It takes 1000 years for polyethylene bags to break down into smaller compounds. They can have a detrimental effect on marine animals and wildlife in addition to the aesthetic effects on beaches, parks and trees. These are potentially one of the key reasons of death to marine animals. Up to 100,000 marine animals die each year from eating plastic bags which are mistaken for food. This results in obstruction of animal’s intestines, choking & immobility and sometimes as bio-magnification. 

As a solution to these types of problem is to take action by educating and increasing the public’s awareness to the damaging effects that a plastic bag impose on our environment. Applying this would mean to get consumers involved in reducing the number of plastic bags they use. Another important elucidation would be using biodegradable jute bags that take up a shorter time to degrade. Research should be made in to making bio-degradable plastic bags so people could use these ones instead of the non-biodegradable.

Usage of plastic bags is very limited unlike their infinite damages. They are harmful to health, the environment and wildlife. The solutions to put an end to the problems associated with plastic bags are available, collaboration between governments, shops and individuals is vital to take the necessary actions by reducing, reusing and recycling plastic bags.