The whole world, including plant and animal species, is trying to survive the health extremities in one form or the other, mostly being caused due to bad and unfit environment. Plastic menace is certainly one of the greatest environmental challenges of the 21st century. Tiny plastic particles are swirling around the oceans, ending up in landfills, and are responsible for harmful imprints on the environment, and perhaps human, animals and plants health. If facts are to be presented, there are about 8.3 billion tons of plastic in the world – some 6.3 billion tonnes of that in the trash! This horrifying knowledge should naturally lead the world to think of solutions and begin implementation right away.
With the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 coming into existence, the scourge of plastic particles spread from plains to the mountains to the ocean trenches, can be expected to be controlled in the days to come. If researches are to be believed the average person in modern society breathes in and drinks hundreds of very tiny particles of plastic every day, which causes a number of deadly diseases like cancer, birth defects, brain damage and others. Plastics have even blighted animals and bio-diversity. We may easily see scores of cows and other animals eating plastic items out of the open garbage. Similar is the case with the water bodies, where fish, turtles and other marine animals mistake plastic for food, which threatens our lives also as we eat many of these things. Moreover, when plastic items remain in the environment for long, they turn into microplastics, first entering our food sources and then our body. Besides, submicroscopic particles of broken-down plastic float in the air and can easily be inhaled. These micro-particles can pass from the digestive system of our body into the bloodstream and spread throughout our body, including the blood-brain barrier.
Over the past decades, plastic items have replaced the natural materials earlier used in manufacturing paper, glass, cotton and other things. The almost ubiquitous use of plastic led to extreme plastic pollution, which is not just an environmental issue but has a lot of grave repercussions for humanity.
Single-use plastic is intended to be used only once before being disposed of or recycled, accounting for almost one-third of all plastic produced globally with 98% manufactured from fossil fuels. Now single-use plastic has been banned completely in India and any kind of flouting it like – manufacturing, import, stocking, sale, distribution and use of the items invites punishment under the Environment Protection Act 1986, which permits jail of up to five years or a penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.
Worried by the declining environment and its grave results being reflected in rising temperature, governments across the globe have taken remedial measures in recent years. 124 countries including India, signed a resolution brought in by the United Nations Environment Assembly to draw up an agreement, which will make it legally binding for the signatories to address the full life of plastics from production to disposal to end its pollution. Bangladesh became the first country to ban thin plastic bags. Now more than 68 countries have plastic bag bans in place.
Though, it’s a fact that today preparing modern electronic, medical and other devices are impossible without plastic, as it reduces weight, transportation and other logistical costs, for sustainable development and continuity of life and nature, phasing out plastic uses is essential.
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