In many parts of the world, there has been a significant increase in household waste such as food packaging. In this essay, I will mention several reasons and solutions to this problem.
There are several reasons leading to this issue. Firstly, manufacturers tend to produce plastic packages as they are considerably cheaper compared to other materials, therefore maximizing the manufacturers’ profits. Besides, there has been a growing number of people using canned food due to its convenience. These two factors combined lead to a significant increase in the amount of household waste such as plastic packaging, cans, and plastic containers. Secondly, as citizens are not truly aware of the consequences of plastic packaging, they continue to consume a much higher amount of these waste. And, in some countries, such an issue is not emphasized so the policies aiming to reduce household waste are not strictly implemented and followed, resulting in a growing increase in household waste.
However, there are some plausible measures that can be taken to reduce such waste. Firstly, salers should be encouraged to use packaging that is environmentally friendly. For example, in Vietnam, some street vendors use leaf-based packaging to cover food, reducing a huge amount of plastic packaging. This solution not only reduces plastic waste but also protects our health as plastic packaging containing microplastics can negatively affect our health if they are used to cover hot food. Moreover, manufacturers should be encouraged to produce biodegradable materials instead of plastic ones which take years to dissolve, therefore negatively affecting the environment, our health and marine creatures. Additionally, all citizens should reuse and recycle their household waste such as cans or plastic containers so that they can reduce the amount of household waste.
In conclusion, the increase in the production and demand for plastic packaging due to its convenience and citizens’ unawareness of detrimental impacts of plastics have led to an increasing amount of household waste. However, I believe introducing environmentally-friendly and biodegradable materials and encouraging people to reuse and recycle their plastic packages can be solutions to this problem.