Is Plastic Bad for the Environment?
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Plastic is extremely bad for the environment. It is one of man’s worst inventions. Plastic is non-biodegradable. This means that waste plastic cannot be turned into any other substance that is eco-friendly. Although tonnes and tonnes of plastic are burnt in the most advanced incinerators, all that remains is plastic. It doesn’t change into anything else, as many other materials do. Hence, plastic waste is dangerous to the environment.
Plastic carry bags reach the drainage system and this causes clogging especially during the rains. If too much plastic ends up in a lake or a pond, it creates a layer that denies oxygen to everything below so that no plant or animal life can survive in that water body. If animals eat plastic bags thrown in rubbish dumps, it knots up their intestines and they die painful deaths. If plastic lies on land it can choke it to the extent that nothing will grow there again. Hence, plastic must be done away with completely.
There are many alternatives to plastic and we should use them. For shopping we can use cloth, jute or paper carry bags. We can get milk in bottles or cartons. We can use metal or glass jars instead of plastic ones. Many things now made of plastic can have better and eco-friendly alternatives. So the earlier we say goodbye to plastic the safer the future of the planet Earth.
