Environment issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environment issue - Essay Example They have various remarkable properties due to which people prefer using them as compared to paper bags. Their production is cheaper. These are light weight, easy to carry around, cost-efficient and durable, and the consumer as such does not see any harm using them in packing their stuff. We use them during our shopping spree. We put eatables in them and put them in our refrigerators. We store things in them so that they remain safe for years. We line our bathroom bins with them. Plastic bags are all over our environment. We see plastic bags blowing around on streets and in the waters. We see them clustered together at a place blocking the sewage lines. And we see people collecting their litter in the plastic bags and throwing them in garbage cans. 3. Problems with the usage of Plastic Bags 3.1. Damage to the Environment Often, we see someone collecting plastic bags and burning them. But do they disappear? No, and this is what is the biggest problem with these plastic bags. They do n ot disappear and they cannot be recycled into something else. They are made up of polyethylene which is a non-degradable material and just changes its shape when burnt but does not change its form. It is believed that a plastic bag takes thousands of years to decay entirely. So, it continues to be present in our surroundings as a permanent problem. The hitch actually arises when people do not dispose of the plastic bags properly. This is this unethical disposal that becomes the real trouble for the environment. â€Å"6.9 billion bags† are used in the world every year, and almost â€Å"30 million† of them end up clustering at dumpsites per year (James & Grant 2005:1). The aesthetic view of the surroundings also gets spoiled. 3.2. Air Pollution Burning them at dumpsites eliminates hazardous chemicals such as dioxins and furans, which get inhaled by people thus damaging their health. Since these chemicals are toxic, they pose threats to the human body and give rise to dis eases resulting from air pollution. Dioxins and furans are chemicals which are believed to destroy the purity of air and this fact is internationally accepted. 3.3. Hazards for Sea Life With increase in the usage of plastic bags, the marine environment is being forced to accept increased quantities of plastic debris. When the used plastic bags get clustered over rivers and seas, they become a hazard for marine mammals, fish, seabirds, crustaceans and turtles that ingest them or get entangled, and then die because of suffocation. â€Å"Ingested plastics may block digestive tracts, damage stomach linings, or lessen feeding drives† (Laist 2006:319). 3.4. Suffocation Plastic bags have also been found of being responsible for taking lives of many infants who put them on their faces and inside their mouths or nostrils, and may die of suffocation because plastic bags are air-tight. 3.5. Blockage of Drainage System Plastic bags can also block the drainage system which damages sanitat ion. Dirty water starts oozing out of the drains on the streets and into the houses in cities where drainage system is already not properly implemented. Flies and mosquitoes breed in this water and then they bring dirt onto the eatables which when digested by human beings makes them ill with diseases like cholera, typhoid, diarrhea, and