Plastic in the Environment
Plastic is used around the world as a convenient packaging commodity; however, this convenience can soon become a great burden if drastic changes are not taken. A vast amount of coastal populations have seen the consequences of single-use plastics first hand with this waste appearing on shores and impacting sea life. Because plastics have a long decomposition time, they can pose an immense threat to the environment.
Plastics affect organisms in life-threatening ways, such as entanglement, consumption, or the many chemicals that may accumulate. The accumulation of these toxic chemical compounds that are in plastics can even make their way into our plates through the fish that we eat. The chemicals DDT and PCB have been shown by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to cause many forms of cancer. Plastics can also clog sewage drains and increase the spread of disease in developing countries (UN Environment).
The United Nations has begun spreading awareness of the issue and providing alternatives to the catastrophic single-use plastics; however, there needs to be action taken against the current build-up of plastics across the globe. There have been many clean-ups and inventions devised to combat this issue. The discovery of plastic-eating microbes provides one approach to this ever-growing concern. Nonetheless, if extreme policy changes towards single-use plastics do not take place, industrialization could ruin all progress toward a cleaner environment. Much of the pollution seen today is done by those who directly profit from not changing or are not directly impacted by its consequences.
This post is based on the following links:
https://rachelssssblog.blogspot.com/
https://www.unenvironment.org/interactive/beat-plastic-pollution/
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