Facts About Plastic Pollution (2021), Which you have to know

No doubt plastic plays an important role in our life because it is a cheap and an affordable product for everyone. But do you know some shocking Facts about plastic pollution?

 In 1950, the world's population of 2.5 billion produced 1.5 million tons of plastic waste; in 2021, a global population of more than 7.8 billion people produced over 410 million tons of plastic. Every year approximately more than 8 million pieces of plastic are dumped into oceans.

What is Plastic?

Plastic is mainly made from synthetic resins emitted from petroleum substances. Plastic contains molecules of chlorine, fluorine, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen etc.

What is Plastic Pollution?

 Plastics collected on the ground or in water are called plastic pollution, which has a bad effect on the lives of birds, animals and Humans. Plastic pollution has a dangerous effect on humans and habitat of animals. 

Plastic pollution affects the Earth, Air, Waterways and seas. Plastic is very dangerous for the environment. Everyone should know that how does plastic harm our environment. 

PLASTIC POLLUTION FACTS-

Plastic is a valuable resource in many ways, but plastic pollution is an unnecessary and unsafe residue of that source. Here are some lesser-known facts about plastic pollution which you have to know:

1). Worldwide About 2 million Plastic bags are used every minute.

Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. And about Two million single use plastic bags are used every minute.

It seems like an unbelievable number but this report is given by EcoWatch 

In an effort to reduce unnecessary waste of plastic, some countries have placed bans on plastic bags and the results are also seen.

countries which are really concerned about plastic pollution ban plastic bags 

The ban on plastic sacks has already proven very effective. In the UK, for example, the introduction of a 5p plastic bag charge launched in 2015 has reduced plastic bag use by 85%. (According to The Guardian report). 

Recently, China government took strict action  to ban all single-use, non-degradable, non-compostable bags in all major cities by the end of 2020, and in the entire country by 2022.

2). A plastic bag has an average “working life” of 12 minutes.

Plastic bags are only used for an average of 12 minutes but they pollute the environment for hundreds of years, because plastic bags take 1000 years to decompose in landfills. By clogging our drain pipes, posing a huge threat to our marine life, and working their way into our food chain.

It is predicted that by 2050, plastics will become as abundant as fish in the ocean.

average life of plastic bag is 12 minutes 

3). 20,000 plastic water bottles are bought around the world every second.

It’s astonishing to think that we produce 20,000 water bottles every second but may only use them for a few minutes.  Only 9 percent plastic is recycled. 

Of the plastic bottles that are thrown out, 91% of plastic is not recycled. That’s about 8.3 billion tonnes incorrectly thrown in the garbage. Remember, we produce 20,000 bottles a second; that’s 19,800 bottles per second that end up in the trash.

4). People eat at least 50,000 plastic particles a year.

According to TheGuradian report , The average person eats at least 50,000 particles of microplastic a year and breathes in a similar quantity, according to the first study to estimate human ingestion of plastic pollution.

Microplastic pollution is mostly created by the disintegration of plastic litter and appears to be ubiquitous across the planet. Researchers find microplastics everywhere they look; in the air, soil, rivers and the deepest oceans around the world.

Another report tells us that an average person consume a credit card of plastic in a week that mean we eat 5g plastic in a week. Through food chain these microplastic particles enters in our body.

A new study found that just one tea bag can Release billions of microplastic particles into your drink.

·      ·         A single plastic tea bag can release 11.6 billion microplastic and 3.1 billion nanoplastic particles into a single cup of tea, according to new research.

5). Nearly 700 species, have been affected by plastics. 

Millions of animals are killed by plastics every year, from birds to fish to other marine organisms.

Plastic material in the stomach causes many marine organisms to die

Research indicates that half of sea turtles worldwide have ingested plastic. A recent study found that sea turtles that consume only 14 pieces of plastic have an increased risk of death.

According to PEW,  Plastic waste kills 1 million seabirds a year. Scientists estimate that 60 percent of all marine species have eaten plastic pieces, a figure they estimate will increase to 99 percent by 2050.

6). Since 1950, around 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced worldwide.

It is estimated that 13 million metric tons of plastic are ends up in ocean  annually. which is  equivalent to the weight of a garbage or rubbish truck load's worth every minute. 

Every minute, one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our oceans

The researchers found that Humans have created 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics since large-scale production of the synthetic materials began in the early 1950s, out this total wastage only 9 percent is recycled , 12 percent is incinerated and 79% accumulated in landfills or the natural environment.

 According to the study, Worldwide production of plastics increased from 2 million metric tons in 1950 to over 450 million metric tons in 2020. 

7).  Worldwide 83 Percent of sea litter is plastic 

Every minute, one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our oceans. About 8 million metric tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean annually. Of those, 236,000 tons are microplastics. 

it is estimated that,The amount of plastic trash that flows into the oceans every year is expected to nearly triple by 2040 to 29 million metric tons. By 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish.

Conclusion

Till now, we have understood the facts of plastic pollution.  Need of the hour is to take this problem seriously and we all have to find solutions to reduce plastic pollution on our own.

 If you have no idea about it, here we are giving you some steps to reduce plastic pollution which may help you a lot.  But, what are you doing at your own level please share with us. We will upload your innovative ideas in post.

Our main motive is just to make more people aware of the negative effects of plastic pollution.

Thanks for your precious time !!