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Did you know that a plastic jug can easily take a million years to break down? Isn’t it shocking? Have a look at more incredible facts about plastic pollution in this post.
Plastic is now an incontrovertible part of people lives all around. Since its advancement by Alexander Parkes in 1852, it’s been the most used items on the planet. Go everywhere, try something out, and there will be plastic in everything you do. Right from food, to clothes, to technologies, to green labs, every industry requires plastic material. Even though it has become the most important commodity, there’s no question that using plastic material has its own set of drawbacks.
It’s dangerous for human, animal and plant life. The problem with plastic material arises when we have no use for it, and we want to dispose of it. Plastic takes almost 5-6 decades to decompose, and quite often this period stretches to more than a thousand years.
Let us figure this out by checking out facts about plastic pollution.
Plastic Air Pollution Facts
Plastic is ubiquitous; it’s all around you. Environmentalists have been reassuring people to steer clear of the use of plastic bags around the world but not many people are taking it seriously.
For those who have no idea of how dangerous plastic can be for them and the generations to come, here are a few plastic air pollution facts for their understanding.
- Plastic containers take thousands of years to decompose. Nearly every piece of plastic ever manufactured still exists today.
- According to WWF, approximately 18 billion pounds of plastic waste material is dumped in the sea every year. Plastic bags and various other plastic wastes crammed almost a million marine animals.
- Recycling plastic is the best way to ensure the safe deposit of plastic, but the majority of people don’t even know that.
- According to UNESCO, over 220 million tons of plastic are produced every year, and people in America generate more than 12.6 million tons of plastic waste yearly, and they recycle only 2% of it.
- People in America use 3.5 million plastic containers every hour, and each of us generates nearly 1,400 lbs of trash yearly which can be removed if recycled.
- According to The Guardian, the earth’s annual usage of plastic bags was 6 million tons in the early ’60s and has increased to more than a hundred million tons today.
- More than 73 billion gallons of water is usually used to make those empty plastic containers. People spend a lot more than $6 billion on bottled water in the United States alone.
Plastic Bag Pollution Facts
The vast majority of people use plastic bags in their daily life; however, not many understand that all these bags are the leading cause of water, land, and air pollution.
Almost all countries have restricted the utilization of plastic bags due to the high level of toxicity they have. Those who have no idea regarding the particular level of air pollution that these bags generate should certainly continue reading the damaging effects of plastic bags.
- In accordance with recent research, California uses almost 20 billion plastic bags yearly. To make sure that they’re dumped properly, the state usually spends almost $26 million every year.
- When people have no idea of how to deal with plastic bags, they mostly dump them into the marine.
- Plastic bag pollution in ocean water bodies has become the biggest issue confronted by people these days. Environmentalists report that plastic bags are responsible for killing more than 75,000 marine turtles every year.
There are lots of beneficial plastic alternatives such as bottles and paper bags that are made from environment-friendly materials. What makes them not so popular, I don’t know. Having said that, it would be very useful if people could come and give to make our world a better place with the help of recycling plastic bags.
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Related articles and Resources:
- Reusing Plastic Water Bottles – The Concerns & Controversies
- 9 Bad Habits that are Destroying our Environment
- Current Air Pollution Future Challenges & Solutions
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