One pressing environmental problem that affects wildlife and human health is plastic pollution. Plastic pollution is primarily attributed to high plastic consumption. To alleviate the negative impacts of plastic, strict government regulations should be enforced.
One of the main causes of plastic pollution is the excessive use of plastics by consumers and factories. Plastics are easily accessible due to massive productions and relatively cheaper and long-lasting compared to eco-friendly packaging. It is because raw materials needed to manufacture plastics are just fossil fuels and natural gases which are widely available on a large scale. Therefore, widespread use of plastic can be found easily in everyday life starting from street vendors which rely heavily on the single-use plastic cups, straws and bags as they are convenient, lightweight and disposable. Moreover, factories in various fields use plastics to package their items. For instance, the skincare factories offer sample-size shampoos, creams and serums in mini plastic sachets and mini bottles which are often used once or twice and then get discarded. Another example includes snack foods often packed in multiple-layered plastic bags filled with air and beverages sold in plastic bottles. As the plastics items are non-biodegradable, they are often incinerated, adding greenhouse gases into air causing serious respiratory problems in humans. Alternatively, they end up in landfills and oceans and are usually mistaken as food by marine animals.
To combat the overuse of plastics, government should impose strict regulations on factories by introducing plastic credits. A certain limit on how much plastics one factory can generate should be set and plastic credits should be given to those who fund the waste-management systems and promote the use of green items. For example, Verra’s waste reduction standard allows the large corporations to purchase credits and is found to reduce significant use of plastics. Moreover, consumers must be educated on reducing, reusing and recycling the plastics. Reducing could be practised initially in the supermarkets by rewarding customers who bring eco-friendly tote bags and paper bags to carry their purchased items. To reuse and recycle, people must be taught to separately discard the plastics items into the recycle bins instead of streams and lands.
In conclusion, plastic pollution is mainly caused by large businesses and consumers who lack proper knowledge about efficient use of plastics. Therefore, government should address and handle the issue properly by promoting plastic-credits and educating people on 3Rs so that wildlife and human health are protected well.