essay on harmfull effect of plastic bags
Answers
Discarded plastic bags are, in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’s words, “an iconic symbol of waste”. Billions of bags are used by shoppers in the UK each year and “far too many of these bags made their way onto the streets and into the countryside as unsightly litter”.
2. They are bad for wildlife
Plastic bags can choke or poison fish, animals and birds, with marine wildlife particularly vulnerable. As a study cited by the Government explains, “when seabirds, sea mammals or fish ingest plastic particles, blocking of the gut is likely to harm or even kill the organism”.
3. They are costly to clear up
Littered carrier bags cost taxpayers in England about £10 million a year in clean-up costs, Defra says.
4. They use up finite natural resources
Plastic bags consume resources, including oil, in their creation. According to some estimates, up to 100 million barrels of oil are needed to make the world’s plastic bags each year. Yet typical usage of a plastic bag is just 20 minutes.
5. They take years to decompose
As Defra says, “even when disposed of responsibly, plastic bags can last for long periods of time in landfill sites”. In the UK, some 16,000 tonnes of waste is sent to landfill each year – where, according to campaigners, the plastic bags can take 1,000 years to decompose
Harmful Effects of Plastic Bags
Though plastic is quite useful, yet it causes pollution everywhere. Let’s see how it pollutes our environment. Plastics have become almost an integral part of each and every human being’s life on the planet. There is no company, manufacturer, seller that does not use plastic. Plastics have become ubiquitous. The consumption of plastics across the globe is quite staggering. According to oceancrusaders.org shoppers worldwide are using approximately 500 billion single-use plastic bags per year.
The problem with most of the plastics is their toxicity, strength, and the ability to last long in all types of weather or climate conditions. Plastic bags would not be as dangerous if they would decompose on their own.
Though they are quite useful to human beings, but they are very dangerous for environment and animals. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has confirmed plastic debris kills approximately 100,000 marine mammals every year, as well as millions of birds and fishes.
The need of the hour is to replace plastic with environmental friendly materials. All of us need to join our hands to fight this menace and preserve our beautiful environment. We must stop using plastic altogether. The governments of various nations, including our national Government have launched anti-plastic campaigns. We can make these campaigns by saying ‘NO TO PLASTIC’.