Use of Plastic Boon or Bane

 Nowadays, everyone uses plastic in different forms- plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic containers, etc. Plastic items are easy to carry, so it has been accepted by the common people. But it has many awful effects also.  According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “Every minute, the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our ocean. Plastic pollution is a global problem. Approximately 7 billion of the 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic produced from 1950-2017 became plastic waste, ending up in landfills or dumped. Plastic pollution can alter habitats and natural processes, reducing ecosystems’ ability to adapt to climate change, directly affecting millions of people’s livelihoods, food production capabilities, and social well-being”. This is, in a nutshell, about the awful impact of plastic use. Keeping in mind of this, 

 In this article, a few points about the bad effects of plastic are highlighted, which have been collected from the website www.earthday.org/factsheets. As per the report, plastics are used in different forms- Disposable Plastic, Single-Use Plastics, Microplastics, and Drinking Water. 

 Disposable Plastic: 

1.    An estimated 583 billion plastic bottles were produced in 2021, against 100 billion produced five years ago. 

2.    In 2017, packaging production constituted the highest-demanded use for plastic, with 146 million metric tons used.

3.    Around the world, people litter more than 4.5 trillion cigarette butts yearly.

Single-Use Plastics: Around 380 million metric tons of plastic are produced yearly. It is noteworthy to mention that 8.3 Billion Metric Tons (9.1 BILLION US Tons) of plastic have been produced since plastic was introduced in the 1950s. The amount of plastic produced in a year is roughly the same as the entire weight of humanity. Human beings use about 1.2 million plastic bottles per minute in total. Approximately 91% of plastic is not recycled. Roughly half of our global annual plastic production is destined for a single-use product.

Plastic has been found at 36,000 feet (approximately 11km) in the Mariana Trench, meaning not even the deepest part of the world’s oceans can escape contamination.

Over 1 million marine organisms are killed each year due to plastic pollution in the ocean. 

The chances of disease on a coral reef are enhanced by 22-fold by plastics. In 2018, a huge survey of the 159 coral reefs across the Asia-Pacific region revealed the fact that over 11.1 billion plastic particles are entangling the corals, and this number is estimated to increase dramatically by 40% by 2025. 

Microplastics and Drinking Water: According to a study by Orb Media on plastics and tap water, around 83% of tested water samples from major metropolitan areas worldwide were contaminated with plastic fibers. Plastic fibers were also found in bottled water produced by 11 of the world’s largest brands purchased from 19 locations in nine countries. Around 93% of bottled water showed microplastic contamination, including polypropylene, nylon, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Suggestions to Control Plastic Use: Given the above, I extend my suggestions here to control the use of plastic. Some of the suggestions are cloth bags may be used when we go to market for the purchase of fruits, vegetables, etc. When we are on tour, drinking water may be carried in metal containers.  In technically feasible production of soft cool-drink may be stopped. 

Prof Shankar Chatterjee, Hyderabad