Your everyday single-use plastic is damaging our planet drastically. Read on and find out more.

Just half a century old, plastic has become a disposable part of our life. From the piece of breakfast toast to your disposable water bottle for work come packed in plastic. Sadly, plastic has turned out to be a bane rather than a boon for us.

How is plastic pollution affecting our planet?

Firstly, we have to understand that plastic is not biodegradable. It means that the plastic bottle you just threw, would be around for another 450 years on the planet. That’s how bad it is. Let’s see some other ways it is affecting our mother earth.

Effects on Humans

It also affects humans as when we consume food in plastic containers; we consume a minuscule part of plastic with it. Even consumed in a very tiny amount, plastic is deadly for humans as it could lead to chronic ailments like cancer. And, plastic pollution in water resources leads to polluting our food and ultimately our bodies.

Effect on our oceans and marine life

The single-use plastic that we dispose of, ultimately finds itself in our final dumping ground, the oceans. Plastic is deadly to all the marine life, right from a small fish to the enormous amphibians. According to experts, about 100,000 marine mammals are killed due to plastic. Stray plastic nets also lead to strangulation of precious marine life.

Some hard-hitting facts about plastic pollution

Some of the facts given below would make you understand the gravity of the situation.

• Ever since it was produced in 1950, about 8.3 billion tons of plastic has been produced in the whole world.
• About 2 million plastic bags are used every day in the whole world.
• About 9% of the plastic gets recycled, and about 12% is burned off. The rest of 79% goes to landfills.
• It would take more than 1000 years for all the plastic to degrade naturally.
• Every piece of plastic you ever used is still out there, in some form or shape. Scary but true.

How can you make a difference?

You can do a lot, even just by making small lifestyle changes. Stop the single using plastic, recycle, reuse. Maybe you cannot clean up our rivers and oceans, but you can always stop bringing more plastic to them. Try to use alternatives to plastic and bring awareness regarding this pollution to your friends and family. After all, this planet is our home, and we have to take care of it.