Have you ever wondered where all the plastic cans you throw out go? Knowing that they don’t just decay, do you wonder how so much plastic stuff is disposed of? Does everyone have a means of recycling their plastic cans? Human reliance on plastic products is one of the major causes of environmental pollution in recent times.
Plastic is described as polymeric. This means that it is a material made up of very large molecules. Natural plastics are not our problem. The real menace is synthetic plastic. They have been developed to defy natural decay processes and therefore tend to remain in the natural environment for a long time without decomposition whilst releasing toxic chemicals. Statistics show that single-use plastics account for 50% of plastic products produced. You can find them in parks, playgrounds, schools, offices, roadsides, trash cans, etc. The indiscriminate disposal of these kinds of plastic products places them at the forefront of global plastic pollution.
What are Single-use Plastics?
True to their name, single-use plastics refer to plastic products that are meant to be used once and disposed of immediately. They are quite easy to use and have become a reliable, fanciful packaging for products and so have become the most commonly used packaging by manufacturers. Plastic alternatives have replaced tins, glass, paper, and other forms of packaging.
Approximately 380 million metric tons of plastic are produced yearly and roughly half of the global plastic products are meant to be for single use. Statistics report that humans use about 1.2 million plastic bottles per minute, five trillion plastic bags are produced annually worldwide and the world uses up about 500 billion plastic cups every year with Americans alone using half a billion drinking straws every day. If you understand that every plastic that has ever been made still exists in some shape or form right now and hasn’t degraded because it takes over 1,000 years for a single plastic bag to degrade in a landfill; then you already see the red flags. Now, here is the scary part. It is estimated that about 91% of the plastics disposed of are not recycled. About 14 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans.
Single-use plastics are the most commonly used plastic products. Plastic bags, cups, straws, water bottles, plastic wraps, food trays, ice cream containers, and several other plastic products that are used and disposed of immediately are referred to as single-use plastics.
How do Single-use Plastics Affect the Environment?
The United Nations Environment Programme report on plastic pollution reveals that there are approximately 199 million tons of plastic waste in the ocean and predicts that this will increase to about 37 million tons per year by 2040. The use of plastic materials has become a lifestyle that may never be completely erased. However, the lasting effects on the land and aquatic ecosystem are a major cause for concern. Scientists and experts continue to warn the world population about the dangers of single-use plastics; however not very many people understand why.
Plastics do not break down. They sit in the soil, flow with the water, and move with the wind but never break down. Plastics cause a wide range of damage to the environment. Grazing animals die in large numbers yearly from intestinal complications caused by ingesting plastic bags on their grazing grounds. Some animals also get tangled up in plastic bags and drown. It is not difficult to imagine how plastic products clog up sewage systems leading to floods, spreading of pollutants, destruction of aquatic habitat, and other degrees of damage.
When it rains, the flood carries piles of plastic products from one place to another, making such a horrible mess on land, and creating a difficult sanitation problem. Plastic products that have found their way to farmlands pose a great challenge to agriculture by causing destruction and abandonment of agricultural lands and heavy financial losses.
How are Single-use Plastics the major Culprits?
Single-use plastics are the most produced plastic products in the world. They are used for so many purposes and disposed of in different ways that do not necessarily trigger alarm bells in the heads of consumers. They seem like a safer, cleaner, and more convenient option and so single-use plastics remain in very high demand globally.
While the option of recycling is available for different types of plastic products, single-use plastics consist of small items that are not easy to recycle. They get into the water, break down into microplastics, and are consumed by fishes which are then consumed by humans.
In conclusion, the most realistic and effective way of reducing the effects of single-use plastics on the environment is by limiting the use of plastic products and going for safer options, recycling more plastics, and also switching to reusable products.