What Exactly is Plastic Pollution?
Plastic Pollution is an aggregation of plastic and particles (Plastic Bottles, Plastic Bags, Plastic Utensils, etc) in the Earth’s environment. This harms the wildlife, habitat, and civilization. Plastic is cheap and durable, which leads to a huge production of it which is the reason why Plastic Pollution exists.
How does Plastic Pollution affect Aquatic Life?
Our ocean and the variety of aquatic species are succumbing to the harmful effects of plastic. Grey whales washed up on shore were found with more than 20 plastic bags, golf balls, and other garbage in their digestive systems in 2010. This animal was not the only animal found affected by plastic pollution but also the harbour seal pup was found with small pieces of plastic wrap in its stomach. According to the United Nations over 800 species have been affected by plastic pollution. It is predicted that by 2025 that plastic pollution will double if we don’t act sooner or later.
Solutions to Solving this Problem
There are many things we can do to solve plastic pollution but it will take a while and a lot of effort. The first thing we can do as citizens is lean ourselves away from disposable plastics. Around ninety percent of plastic items in our daily lives are only used once (Grocery Bags, Plastic Wrap, Plastic Utensils, Coffe Cup Lids, etc). We should be more aware of the amount of plastic we use because every little action helps. The second thing we can do is stop buying water. Every year, around 20 billion plastic bottles are tossed into the garbage. Instead, we should be promoting and using more reusable water bottles. The third thing we can do is use fewer microbeads. These plastic scrubbers found in beauty products, facial scrubs, toothpaste, body wash, might not seem harmful but they are so small resulting them in slipping through water treatment plants. The fourth thing we can do is purchase more secondhand items. Toys and electronics come with many plastic packaging. Promote more hand-me-downs which could save the environment a lot. The last thing we can do is Recycle. Civilization hasn’t done very well with recycling surprisingly. Less than fourteen percent of plastic is actually recycled. Some people still don’t know what doesn’t and what goes into the recycle bin. There are many other things we as people can do to reduce plastic pollution and this is just scraping the surface.
