Over the course of time, men have used up many plastic products in his lifetime. In fact for the last ten years, man has produced more plastic than it has for the past century. Where do all of these go? 50% of the plastics that man use are only used once and then throw away, and all the plastic thrown away in a year could circle the entire Earth four (4) times!
Annually, approximately 500 BILLION plastic bags are used, that’s more than 1 million bags per minute. And plastics also account for 10% of the waste we throw away.
According to EcoWatch, billions of pounds of plastic can be found in swirling convergences in the oceans making up about 40 percent of the world’s ocean surfaces. 80 percent of pollution enters the ocean from the land.
This is sad since most of sea creatures mistake plastics as food and often find themselves choking on them until they die. Some could get plastic stuck to their body parts, giving them a hard time.
Not only does plastic affect the ocean, plastics can also contribute to the cause of global warming. Burning plastics can release carbon which contributes to the greenhouse effect and then damage our ozone layer. aside from this, when plastic waste are burned, they produce dioxin and furan. These elements, even in small quantities, can cause death.
It’s obvious that plastic is harmful. It may be useful for some cases but the waste it generates is never good. Let us remember that whatever we do to Earth today, we do to the generations to come. We’re not the only ones who inhabit the Earth, we must preserve it for the future generations as well.
There are alternatives to avoid using/getting rid/burning plastic. We can bring reusable bags to supermarkets when we go buy groceries to avoid having our items packed in plastic bags. Taking reusable tumblers or mugs with us will help us to avoid buying bottled beverages when we’re thirsty. We could also recycle plastics that we have by converting them into crafty materials that we can use in a garden, for decoration, or anywhere that it may fit. The video below shows some tips on how we could avoid using plastics.
Hopefully these tips could also help us to reduce our plastic waste.
With people who are joining the force to bring down the use of plastics, we could eliminate the harmful effects it may cause. If everyone gives the effort to help reduce the plastic wastes we generate, we could all help save the animals, the environment, us, and Mother Earth. Let’s all join the fight in making Mother Earth green again. Let’s all join Operation: Bring down the Plastics. We challenge you to help fulfill this cause.
Will you take the challenge?
Anonymous Seniors 