Over a few decades, humans have dumped tons of garbage into the ocean. Of the most devastating elements of this pollution is that plastics take thousands of years to decay.
In the most polluted places in the ocean, the mass of plastic exceeds the amount of plankton six times over. As a result, fish and wildlife are becoming intoxicated. Consequently, the toxins from plastics have entered the food chain, threatening human health.
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, so it breaks down into smaller pieces. Toxic chemical leach out of plastic is found in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancers, congenital disabilities, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption, and other ailments.
If we want to move toward a low-polluting, sustainable society, we need to get consumers to think about their purchase.
Plastic In The Environment
Even knowing plastic is harmful, it’s tough to avoid it.
Everything we see around us is made of plastics or plastic components.
Currently, we are using plastic so much that we don’t even realize that now we even have started consuming plastic.
According to research, a single person consumes a credit Card-sized plastic weekly.
As we know plastic can’t break into small components, we can start replacing multiple plastic products with reusable/biodegradable alternatives to help us live that plastic-free lifestyle.
Biodegradable products might be expensive compared to our traditional plastic products, but their effect on nature will surely change our lives too. The average person is estimated to throw away 300 toothbrushes in their lifetime. Pair that up with cheap plastic packaging, and you have a lot of waste that could have been avoided.
Making a simple switch to using a bamboo toothbrush rather than a plastic toothbrush or switching to any biodegradable/reusable products with plastic will reduce the waste in our land life and our oceans. Believe this, you won’t feel the difference, and you will feel better by avoiding plastic and saving the environment.