What are the harmful effects of using plastic bags on environment . Suggest alternativies to plastics bags?
Answers
Explanation:
Plastic never goes away:
Plastic is a material made to last forever, yet 33 percent of all plastic - water bottles, bags and straws - are used just once and thrown away. Plastic cannot biodegrade; it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.
Plastic affects human health :
Toxic chemicals leach out of plastic and are found in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments.
Plastic spoils our groundwater :
There are thousands of landfills in the United States. Buried beneath each one of them, toxic chemicals from plastics drain out and seep into groundwater, flowing downstream into lakes and rivers.
Plastic spoils our groundwater :
There are thousands of landfills in the United States. Buried beneath each one of them, toxic chemicals from plastics drain out and seep into groundwater, flowing downstream into lakes and rivers.
Plastic threatens wildlife :
Wildlife become entangled in plastic, they eat it or mistake it for food and feed it to their young, and it is found littered in even extremely remote areas of the Earth. In our oceans alone, plastic debris outweighs zooplankton by a ratio of 36-to-1.
Plastic piles up in the environment:
Americans discard more than 30 million tons of plastic a year. Only 8 percent gets recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, is burned or becomes litter.
Plastic poisons our food chain :
Even plankton, the tiniest creatures in our oceans, are eating microplastics and absorbing their hazardous chemicals. The tiny, broken down pieces of plastic are displacing the algae needed to sustain larger sea life who feed on them.
Answer:
Plastics products including plastic bags are a health hazard. Exposure to toxic chemicals emitted by plastics causes cancer, decreases the effectiveness of the immune system, and are responsible for many other diseases.
Dumping of plastic bags, plastic bottles, etc. has created an unhygienic condition to our environment. Plastic litters has become a major pollution to our surrounding.
Plastics are not bio-degradable and can remain unchanged for many years. This adversely affects the fertility and the quality of the soil.
Our freshwater sources like rivers and lakes are becoming dumpsters for plastic bags.
Plastic products, especially 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 products including plastic bags are often disposed off by burning and this releases poisonous gases into the atmosphere and pollutes the air we breathe.
Some ways to reduce the use of plastic bags:
Say "No" to plastic bags given by shopkeepers. Carry your own shopping bag.
Carefully separate plastic products from other garbages for recycling.
Stop buying plastic products. When there is less demand, the manufacturing will decrease.
Replace plastic bags with bags made of biodegradable materials like cotton and jute.
Don't buy bottled water. Carry your own nonplastic water bottle.