According to studies by the Plastic Development Council under the department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, India will emerge as the third biggest consumer of plastics in the world by this year end.
Every year, around 500 billion (500,000,000,000) plastic bags are used worldwide. So many that over one million bags are being used every minute and they're damaging our environment. India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Yet, precious little has been done to recycle, re-use and dispose of plastic waste. Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade. They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them. But the problems surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before they photo degrade.
Plastic bags can be seen hanging from the branches of trees, flying in the air on windy days, settled amongst bushes and floating on rivers. They clog up gutters and drains causing water and sewage to overflow and become the breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that cause diseases.
Animals and sea creatures are hurt and killed every day by discarded plastic bags - a dead turtle with a plastic bag hanging from its mouth isn't a pleasant sight but mistaking plastic bags for food is commonplace amongst marine animals. Plastic clogs their intestines and leads to slow starvation.
An estimated 15 lakh computers and 30 lakh mobile phones are disposed of every year in India. “Computers, mobiles and other electronic items generate hazardous e-waste like lead, brominated flame retardants and chromium which can cause cancer,” There is another problem: India has more to deal with than just the waste generated at home. The Environment Protection Authority of Britain recently said 23,000 tonnes of e-waste was dumped in India, China and Pakistan.
Several Indian states such as Maharastra, Dehli, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himanchal Pradesh, Goa , West Bengal etc. banned use of polybags but still using because we people are not ready to accept it as either we dont know the harmful effects of it or we dont want to know.
Guys/gals it si a true fact that plastic/polythene which proves to be a boon for us some year back is now a threat to our environment and this whole world.
SO SAVE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
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