Question

beat plastic pollution

Answer 1

“Beat Plastic Pollution”, the theme for World Environment Day 2018, is a call to action for all of us to come together to combat one of the great environmental challenges of our time. Chosen by this year’s host, India, the theme of World Environment Day 2018 invites us all to consider how we can make changes in our everyday lives to reduce the heavy burden of plastic pollution on our natural places, our wildlife – and our own health.
While plastic has many valuable uses, we have become over reliant on single-use or disposable plastic – with severe environmental consequences. Around the world, 1 million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute . Every year we use up to 5 trillion disposable plastic bags. In total, 50 per cent of the plastic we use is single use.
Nearly one third of the plastic packaging we use escapes collection systems, which means that it ends up clogging our city streets and polluting our natural environment. Every year, up to 13 million tons of plastic leak into our oceans, where it smothers coral reefs and threatens vulnerable marine wildlife. The plastic that ends up in the oceans can circle the Earth four times in a single year, and it can persist for up to 1,000 years before it fully disintegrates.
Plastic also makes its way into our water supply – and thus into our bodies. What harm does that cause? Scientists still aren’t sure, but plastics contain a number of chemicals, many of which are toxic or disrupt hormones. Plastics can also serve as a magnet for other pollutants, including dioxins, metals and pesticides.

Answer 2

Answer:

Beat Plastic Pollution

Plastics are things or objects made of organic polymers or synthetic compounds. The harmful effects of plastics are:

Plastics are a health hazard. Exposure to toxic chemicals emitted by plastics causes cancer, decreases the effectiveness of the immune system, and is responsible for many other diseases.

The dumping of plastic bags, plastic bottles, etc. has created an unhygienic condition to our environment. Plastic litter has become major pollution in our towns and cities.

Plastics are not bio-degradable and can remain unchanged for many years. This adversely affects the fertility and the quality of the soil.

Our fresh water sources like rivers and lakes are becoming dumpsters for plastic bags.

Plastic bags find their way into rivers and oceans. They are swallowed by fish, seabirds, and other marine creatures leading to death by suffocation.

Since plastic bags, plastic bottles, and other discarded plastic products do not degrade, they accumulate in drainage and sewerage systems and block the flow causing waterlogging.

Plastic is often disposed of by burning and this releases poisonous gases into the atmosphere and pollutes the air we breathe.