The Pandemic of Single use Plastic

It wasn’t until the 1970’s until these plastics were developed. 50 years

later, and they have become the most important material used my

manufacturing industries. However, if we move to 10 years from now,

we are in a serious threat of living in a world where entire cities, rivers

and forests become clogged with the transparent polymer. And much

akin to a virus, the use of plastics are not stopping at all.

For those who are a bit behind on the issue, single use plastics are

synthetic polymers that are made in factories to suit a wide variety of

uses. They are, in fact, all around us, in the form of cling film, straws,

water bottles bags and packaging, and the list can go on. They are

strong, flexible, and transparent: the perfect material. However there is

one problem, which is the fact that they are non- biodegradable, and so

cannot be broken down naturally.

This leads to the problem with single use plastics: they build up in

landfill sites and cause numerous problems. They spoil natural beauty,

which has a domino effect towards local tourism. They also enter

ecosystems and can destroy certain food webs. Animals on both land

and sea tend to mistake them for food and end up suffocating. Large

amounts of plastic can also block rivers, kill trees and end up in our

digestive system due to the eating of plastics by animals as before

mentioned.

What makes this “pandemic” even worse is that, single use plastics are

not reused at all. They are only used once and then quickly thrown

away. While some may not care about what may happen to animals,

this pandemic will end up affecting us as well. Building up large

amounts of plastic takes up land which could have been used to grow

crops. Given the rate of plastic usage, most of the world can become

covered in a layer of plastic by 2050.The next generation will have to

live in a world spoiled due to our mistakes and unwillingness to fight for

our plastics. On the bright side, there is still so much we can do to

ensure that this nightmare version of earth never comes to be.

Before anything, we first must get out of our comfort zone when it

comes to dealing with single use plastics. We cant expect others to

clean up after our mess. When it comes to plastics we must take

matters into our own hands and take action to save our earth.

Spreading the word , dissuading the use of plastic can go a long way.

Telling your local shopkeeper not to give you a plastic bag. Reusing any

plastic bags and even finding alternatives to plastics go a long way.

Even though your efforts may be small, If we all join together and

pressurise our governments into banning plastic and bringing about

change, maybe we can stop this pandemic, and have a bright, plastic-

free future.