Plastic Waste - a major environmental hazard

Plastic Waste – a major environmental hazard

Gone are the good old days, when a person never left his house, without carrying his own bag. In today’s ‘modern’ world, it appears unfashionable to be seen with a shopping bag. Gone too, are the days, when all the vendors and shopkeepers used newspaper or paper bags to wrap up every kind of commodity from peanuts in paper cones to groceries in paper bags. In fact, it has increased sales world wide, as all departmental stores have to used plastic carrier bags as a form of advertisement.

Yes, the greatest plastic waste pollution that we face today is that of plastic carrier bags. Never could man have imagined the environmental hazard that this plastic could cause, having been used and discarded indiscriminately.
Plastic is non – biodegradable ie. does not (unlike paper bags and cloth) decay and break down into organic matter. It can live in the soil for the years to come – after the person who discarded it has long left this earth. Plastic forms a cover on the soil, preventing rain water from seeping down, thus depleting our precious ground water. The plastic cover prevents water from reaching the roots of the trees. Seeds lie dormant, unable to break through this impenetrable cover. Plastic covers water bodies, preventing oxygen from reaching aquatic life – thus cutting of their vital lifeline. Animals, like cows and goats freely ingest plastic along with grass and fodder, ultimately leading to their death. Plastic sticks in their alimentary canal. Flying plastic – carried by wind covers young plants, cutting of their vital requirements of oxygen and water.

Thanks to world wide organisation like ‘Green Peace’ and ‘World Wild life Fund’ people have gradually woken up to the fact that in the process of making our life easier, we are gradually killing our planet, by cutting off our vital supplies of water and oxygen. It is now up to each one of us, to preserve our planet keeping it as we found it, for the generation to come. Our role in this is, to carry our own bags, whenever we can, and to make more use of paper bags or cloth bags.  

                 

date.11.3.2019
source.wikipedia