The role of ecosystem is very important for the sustainability of the planet. It is a gift of the nature for us and that we have to take care of it no matter what for the survival of the living species on earth. So, how good are we at taking care of it?
How plastic became a part of our daily life?
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It was not until the early 1900s when a Belgian American Scientist, Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, that turned out to be the first fully synthesized plastic. It was a reinvention of the modern world.
However, the form of the plastic that we use today was not introduced anywhere until the World War II. Even till 1950s, people were unaware about the practical uses of plastic in their daily life. Later, the manufacturers of the plastic found different ways to sell their products made of plastic. The fact that plastic can bring so much ease to people’s day to day life astounded everyone.
Industrial Revolution
The emergence of plastic revolutionized industries around the world. Its production was nearly tripled after the 1950s and now the industries around the world were producing more plastic than steel. People were literally adding the real ease to their lives using different plastic products
Effects of excess use of plastic
The side effects of plastic started frightening the environmental experts since the chemical composition of plastic makes it hard to decay. It was that the plastic waste started ruining the natural environment, causing harm to the living beings as well.
Governments and other stake holders got alert and started taking rapid actions to curb the menace. Now the bigger problem was to dump the waste. People became aware of the hazardous effects of plastic and that they realized that how harmful was it for their health and surroundings.
Now in terms of environment sustainability and other factors, people stared focusing more reducing the use of the products made from plastic. This was followed by the awareness campaigns, rallies and public service messages spread across all mediums regarding the harms of plastic material.
Plastic in today’s world
Despite of all the awareness and damage caused by the use of polyethene, which is the most common kind of plastic, it has a dominant presence in our world. So, let’s have a look to the kinds of damages that is being caused by the use of it on a daily basis.
Increase in Land Pollution
Of course, we cannot turn a blind eye to the factual realities that affect us all in every sense. It is a common practice to dump plastic waste into the landfills. We think that we have gotten rid of all the waste and its harmful effects.
However, what we don’t know is that all the toxicity and hazardous fumes are building up underground. These toxic components spread pollution in all direction, effecting the fertility of the soil where it has been dumped. This phenomenon also gets polluted the underground water.
Impact on Marine Life
Water pollution is one of the most alarming effects of plastic pollution. We usually hear about the spilling of industrial waste into the ocean. This waste mostly contains different forms of plastic components in it.
These plastic components are then naturally flushed into the ocean. This is how the marine animals get trapped in it and die upon swallowing plastic. All these happenings are disrupting ecosystem pretty badly and there is no stopping to it despite knowing it all.
Atmospheric Pollution
Another common practice that is usually following in the third world countries is that plastic waste is burned in open atmosphere that results in the creation of severe toxic fumes. These fumes are extremely contagious and can specifically make people extremely sick.
The presence of harmful toxins in the air can cause expose individuals to severe skin diseases causing allergies and rashes. Inhaling these poisonous gases can cause cancer and various forms of heart diseases.
This practice has to be abandoned at once and some cleaner alternatives are required to be derived to get rid of plastic waste. However, All of the societies around the world have to take responsibility to curb these harmful practices.
Effects on Economy
Plastic waste creates a lot of mess. However, It requires many resources and efforts to get it cleaned and this is highly disadvantageous in terms of economy. In rural areas, especially where farming is done, the harmful chemical composition of plastic causes the land to get infertile.
This affects the agricultural production of a particular region. At the end of the day all of these incidents have a direct impact on the economy of a country and that plastic pollution can cause a lot of our useful resources to go waste.
Alternatives of Plastic bags
If we adapt ourselves to a plastic free living, then we can do a lot to improve the environment around us that is now severely affected by plastic pollution. Alternatives f plastic bags such as paper bag and biodegradable bags are some of the best options for us.
We must also spread awareness in our community about the harms that plastic is causing to the ecosystem.
