Plastic pollution or Single-use plastic is one of the neglected issues when it comes to pollution or things polluting the environment. Sadly, plastic has been the greatest part of the personal consumption of humans comprehensively.
Plastics are generally used in form of plastic bags, daily used equipment that is used one time and then thrown away, and most importantly it is used a lot in washrooms and kitchens.
The most detrimental form of plastic consumption is Single-use plastic. It is harming the environment like slow poisoning.
In daily life, plastics are used as the most essential things. You see things wrapped in plastics, carried in plastics, consumed in plastics, and often stored in them. Mainly it is used and then thrown away.
The most concerning thing about plastic is its decomposition. Plastic does not decompose. It stays there for ages and keeps polluting the environment it is in. it is one the supremely harmful pollution sources in the world.
The making process of plastics starts from Oil and gas that is extracted from the planet’s deep core. It is the start of the life span of plastic. Furthermore, high temperatures are utilized, and a significant amount of water and energy is also consumed.
These fossil fuels are refined at facilities where they are turned into pellets that are later melted and formed into things like water bottles, packaging, garbage bags, and clothing.
It process of making is not based upon zero-emission or environmentally-friendly components. Furthermore, the making plus consumption of plastic is widespread.
Plastic can simply be seen as a human-made thing that is forcibly made part of nature and it stays there being the biggest pollutant. The problem is not just its existence. It is causing havoc to land, soil, water bodies, and nearly every living organism directly or indirectly.
The usage of single-use plastic is made even worse by throwing it into nature. They do not decompose. It is one of the harmful effects of plastic pollution on the world.
You might be in the dark that this problem goes beyond pollution. This has entered into the zone of climatic issues. The damage is already done by the time we are even discussing it.
The manufacturing of plastic also takes so much energy. Fossil fuels are utilized to produce plastic bags, but they finish up as deadly waste in landfills and the ocean. The ending phase of plastic is troublesome. Since plastic does not decompose, therefore it exists everywhere.
Torn plastic bags are commonly mistaken for food by birds, which then eat toxic waste. It is nearly impossible for hungry sea turtles to differentiate between jellyfish and floating plastic grocery bags. Every year, fish eat thousands of tons of plastic. Marine life is at extreme harm when it comes to plastic. People also take in microplastics from the air.
According to future predictions by the year 2050, there will probably be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
Fossil fuels burning for the manufacture of plastic are the worst thing done to the environment. Plastic is and will remain to be prevalent for a longer time.
It destroys the climate and climate control balance. Plastic producers and plastic bags manufacture greenhouse gases at every phase of their life cycle, from creation to disposal.
Using plastic for ease has a terrible cost to the environment and what you may do to minimize that cost is multiplied by zero.
If we see the statistical analysis of Single-use plastic,
“An estimated 232 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the plastics industry are added to the environment per year. The average emissions from 116 coal-fired power stations in 2020 equaled that amount of non- environmentally-friendly aspects. One garbage truck’s worth of plastic is being thrown into the ocean every minute. Global plastic pollution and Single-use plastic are problems. Approximately 7 billion of the 9.2 billion tons of plastics produced between the years 1950 and 2017 were transformed into plastic garbage and dumped or sent to landfills.”
These plants also generate large volumes of airborne pollutants and particles. The threat to health and life is real.
Several people believe that recycling is the answer to the life-long problem. The tremendous issue of plastic cannot be resolved by short-term recycling alone.
Plastic is not guaranteed that they will be recycled.
This is why it’s important to focus on reducing plastic consumption in the first place. World leaders need to pass some rule or law regarding this serious issue.
Legislation needs to be implemented when it comes to individual activities; people examine how much plastic they use at home and work. The same must go at the governmental and general levels.
The end note
The analysis regarding pollution sources is important. Until you do an assessment, you won’t know what you can change.
Plastic consumption is affiliated with every individual and field. At an individual and general level, create a list of all the plastics you have in your home or workplace. When you have a list of the places where you most often use single-use plastic, you may start to make replacements.
You can make a change by avoiding a big source of plastic from your life. Prefer paper packaging above plastic.
Buy in bulk to cut down on plastic waste. This is a global concern and hence a global responsibility. This big problem needs global answers.
Plastic pollution and Single-use plastic have the potential to alter ecosystems’ ability to cope with climate change, affecting habitats, natural phenomena, and the economic and social well-being of millions of people.
The problem of plastic pollution is not unique.
The world needs major change to deal with the impacts of the fossil fuel and plastics sectors on climate control.
To prevent consuming plastic and minimize the worst consequences of the climate crisis, consumers must continue pressing major companies to provide plastic-free solutions and promote refill and reuse initiatives.
The production and consumption of plastics have reached a super-saturated level. Even if the world stops further manufacture of plastic, there is still a long way to get rid of this curse completely.
The land is burning, and floods and hurricanes are coming earlier and earlier. The climate changes and the consequences they are taking along are changing the peace of the world into real annihilation. It is shocking that plastics, in addition to hurting life in different ways, are one of the primary contributors to this.
Single-use plastic or any form of plastic pollution is polluting the environment. The world needs to find a solution and apply it as soon as possible.
Sources
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/16/us/plastic-recycling-climate-impact-lbg/index.html
