Did you know that every single plastic material you throw into your dustbin affects marine life? Our sea and the variety of species that call it home are surrendering to the toxic substance of plastic. According to the United Nations, 800 species overall are influenced by marine flotsam and jetsam, and as much as 80 percent of that litter is plastic.
Research has shown that up to 13 million metric massive amounts of plastic winds up in the sea every year the likeness a trash or dump truck burden merits each moment. Fish, seabirds, ocean turtles, and marine well-evolved creatures can get snared in or ingest plastic trash, causing suffocation, starvation, and suffocating.
No matter how far you live to form the sea, the plastic will end up in the sea. We had it all wrong with the mentality that dumping your plastics in the garbage bins is the right thing to do. That is one big mistake we have always made, and as a result, we are killing the marine gradually. Once in the sea, plastic decays slowly, breaking into small pieces known as miniaturized scale plastics that can be staggeringly harming to the ocean life. 80% of plastic in our seas is from land sources
So how does the plastic waste end up into the sea?
I am sure this is the same question-posing in your mind. As I mentioned earlier, the human race has a hand in the killing of marine life through plastic dumping into the sea. You may not live close to the sea but still pollute it with those plastic bags and containers you use every day
There are three primary ways the plastic we utilize each day winds up in the seas.
Tossing plastic in the container when it could be reused
The plastic you put in the box winds up in the landfill. At the point when refuse is being shipped to landfill, plastic is frequently overwhelmed because it’s so lightweight. From that point, it can, in the long run, mess around channels and enter waterways and the ocean along these lines.
Where do you think that the plastic bag you dropped on the road went to? Litter dropped on the road doesn’t remain there. Water and wind convey plastic waste into streams and waterways and through channels. Channels lead to the sea!
Reckless and ill-advised waste removal is additionally a significant patron – illicit dumping of waste adds enormously to the plastic flood in our oceans.
Items that go down the channel
A large number of the things we utilize day by day are flushed down toilets, including wet disposable clothes, cotton buds, and unused items. Microfibers are even discharged into conduits when we wash our garments in the clothes washer. They are too little also to consider being sifted through by squander water plants and wind up being devoured by small marine species, in the long run, in any event, winding up in our evolved way of life.
A positive move as of late was a prohibition on microbeads in flush off corrective and cleaning items presented by the UK Government, with the goal that these little plastic dots will never again get washed down the sink and out into our seas. However, there are a lot more things that can likewise add to the issue.
What’s the hidden secret?
They say a mistake is never a mistake until it is repeated. Now that we know that we have a hand in the destruction of the marine life, its time maybe we cared about the poor creatures and their beautiful habitat. A couple of years back, Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), In collaboration with the Government of His Excellency Honorable Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, brought into force the long-awaited plastic bag ban. The exercise was at first doubted to take effect, but it was confirmed a breakthrough. Now, it’s a crime to use a plastic bag in Kenya. In support of the president, NEMA has succeeded in setting an unnegotiable fine of 80000 Kenyan shillings (Which is equivalent to $800.
Likewise, Rwanda has been operating with the same policy way back before Kenya had it’s own implemented. These two East African Countries have set an example for us all. Even though the ban only affected the plastic bags, it remains to be a good start! If we all could follow the same lane, perhaps we could save marine life.
Could recycling be a solution?
Recycling could be a solution and an alternative to banning of plastics. I mean, it’s what many could vote for if we were to vote for either of the two. Recycling will first save the cost of purchasing raw materials for the new products.
But then, with the fact that we are human beings, upholding the recycling policy will be the biggest challenge ever
Come to think of it why Kenya and Rwanda didn’t opt for recycling. To my knowledge, I think they evaluated the issue pretty well and realized that recycling wouldn’t be adequately effective. I mean, people will still play stubborn and yet dump the plastics as usual. But banning it sounds quite useful (which is true already) because of course people are getting fined for using plastics.
For many years, the US has been exporting its garbage to China for recycling. Things went on smoothly with the deal until recently, china terminated the agreement and refused to take in any garbage form the USA. Even though not clearly said, China seems to have realized the disadvantage involved with the USA dumping their garbage in China.
The question is, why did the USA government not recycle their garbage from within the USA? Come on, it’s a well-calculated strategy not expose their environment to any waste.
With that said, I don’t think recycling plastics would be an absolute or rather an alternative to banning plastics. If we could stick to Kenya, Rwanda’s way of dealing with plastics, maybe they would make the marine world a better place for the poor aquatic creatures!