Why India Needs to Focus on its Plastic Problem?

So many people, especially millennials, are profoundly vocalizing against environmental crisis these days. What most of them prefer is posting stories on Instagram and Facebook pages, right? Well, we all know that this is not how we overcome an ordeal like this.

Plastic is being utilized in an extensive amount and shoving a great impact on our life. From the debit cards in our wallets to the shopping bags we use, plastic has surrounded us from everywhere. Metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, and Kolkata have been found to generate 60% of the plastic waste.

India currently generates 25,940 tonnes of waste every day and 80% of the plastic consumed is discarded as waste. Out of this, around 40% remains uncollected. Not exaggerating, the amount of plastic waste in our country is more than the population of itself.

If you don’t believe us, give a look to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the biggest blot of plastic garbage on humanity. It’s high time we get to the root of plastic pollution. After all, Earth is the only planet we got to live. Moreover, plastic accumulation has given us a lot of reasons to worry about.

1. No Habitat for Marine Animals

Studies have shown that there are now 15–51 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans. Millions of seabirds, sea turtles, seals, and other marine mammals are dying every year after consuming plastic or getting entangled in it. 

Now, it seems they would have lived much better in those closed aquariums.

2. Land Degradation

Disposal of plastic waste damages the quality of nature gravely. Drainage systems become clogged with plastic bags and other products causing flooding, while litter can be found everywhere on the streets. This also leads to intestinal blockages among animals who feed on such waste.

3. Air is Rendered Unbreathable Now

Plastic is toxic from birth. Want to get rid of it, just burn it. Correct? No. Don’t even think about burning plastic. Burning of plastics release toxic gases like hydrogen, carbon, chlorine, etc. that cause many health-related diseases.

4. Groundwater Depletion

During rains, garbage dumps leak environmental toxins which seep into groundwater and reservoirs. Can’t blame the rain, can we? No, but we can blame ourselves and realize that. This gravely affects the sustainability of water. 

5. Deteriorates Health

Plastic pollution also causes a serious impact on your health. How? After mixing with the oceans, plastic eventually reaches our tap waters. The microfibers formed are significantly present in the water we consume and are not separated by any of the advanced water purification technologies. This leads to respiratory disorders, cancer, osteoporosis, fertility, and many other heart-related problems.

6. Animals Suffer Too

The pollution level might not have been that omnipotent to wipe out the entire human population yet, but it hasn’t spared the wildlife for sure! The plastic waste is dumped usually in the forest areas or empty lands. 

Animals, whether domestic or wildlife, wind up swallowing plastic more than than the animals they eat. This strikes their vital biological functions and leads to their deaths. The list of endangered animals is not getting mitigated day by day.

Don’t just sit and lavish your time scrolling through dozens of articles on the environmental crisis. Get rid of your habit to rely on everything made up of plastic ranging from plastic straws to coca-cola cans. Not just India, but the entire world is facing this crisis severely.

It’s high time to repay your Mother Earth. Utilize eco-friendly cloth bags, apply the mantra of 3 R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) in your life, join many cleaning drives and campaigns too. Also, stop ordering food from online apps. They have been adding almost 22,000 tonnes of plastic waste every month.