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 2020, a global population of
more than 7.8 billion people produced over 400 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.
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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,
On July 20th, 2019 Panama
became the latest Country to ban single-use plastic bags.
You
can see how many single use plastic bags are used right now click here
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.
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.
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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.
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 400
million metric tons in 2015.
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 in the ocean is set to increase
tenfold by 2020. 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 on post.
Our main motive is just to make more people aware of
the negative effects of plastic pollution.
Thanks!!
Thx for useful information
ReplyDeletewe could change this data by finding alternatives of single use plastic. its our responsibility to save our planet.everyone should use reusable bags.
ReplyDeleteUseful information to save environment form plastic pollution
ReplyDeleteReusing and most importantly reducing our single use plastic dependency
ReplyDelete