Plastic Pollution: Water Bottles, Toxins, Bag Bans, and Recycling

Erosion of soil in hilly areas makes the roots of trees exposed thereby trees loose their strength to survive. Further erosion of soil causes washing off vegetation nutrients available in the soil. As plastic bags prevent percolation of rainwater into land, recharge of ground water is also affected.

Basically plastic bags are not biodegradable. Plastic bags do not decompose and remain as such for a long time. This blocks the rainwater getting percolated into land and instead makes to run on the surface of land causing erosion of soil, carrying various pollutants to nearby water bodies resulting in pollution of water.

Plastic Bags and World:

Taiwan is prohibiting not only plastic bags, but also disposable plastic plates, cups and cutlery used by fast food vendors. Threats of fines of up to £152 have resulted in a 70% reduction in the use of plastic bags, and a 25% cut in landfill waste.

Ireland's 15p "plastax" on carrier bags, introduced in 2002, has led to a 90% reduction in use.

Denmark, as part of a larger packaging tax introduced in 1994, Denmark taxes plastic bags. The stated aim is to promote reusable bags.

Bangladesh became the first country to ban plastic bags. A movement against them began in the 1980s in Dhaka, where bags were found to clog drains in the monsoon rains, causing flooding.

San Francisco has become the first US city to ban plastic bags. The ban will be enforced later this year.

Plastic Pollution Photos

When plastic bags breakdown, small plastic particles can pose threats to marine life and contaminate the food web. A 2001 paper by Japanese researchers reported that plastic debris acts like a sponge for toxic chemicals, soaking up a million fold greater concentrations of such deadly compounds as PCBs and DDE (a breakdown product of the notorious insecticide DDT), than the surrounding seawater. This turn into toxic gut bombs for marine animals, which frequently mistake these bits for food.

Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food. Turtles think the bags are jellyfish, their primary food source. Once swallowed, plastic bags choke animals or block their intestines, leading to an agonizing death.

Australians alone consume about 6.9 billion plastic bags each year, that's 326 per person. According to Australia's Department of Environment, an estimated 49,600,000 annually end up as litter.