How will the ban on poly bags help us?

Plastic bags are everywhere in our environment as they are light, cheap, and convenient. When we go to purchase our groceries, we use plastic bags. Being a cheap and convenient, plastic bag pay high cost to the environment and negatively affects human health.

Globally, people have begun banning the use of plastic bags, while some have enforced restricted laws against it because of the negative effects of their usage.

Below mentioned are some of the reasons why plastic bags should be banned from our cities.

1.Plastic bags pollute our environment: Plastic bags are usually light in weight, and as such, they could travel very long distances by either water or wind. The wind blows these plastic bags and therefore, trashes a whole area. These litters get caught up in between trees, fences, and floats in water bodies, thus moving to the world’s oceans. As a result, poly bags pollute our water and land and cause soil erosion.

2.The Plastic bags are made from non-renewable resources: Most of the plastic is made of polypropylene, the materials are non-renewable fossil fuel-based resources, manufactured from petroleum and natural gas. Due to their extraction and even production, greenhouse gases are created, which further contribute to global climate change.

3.A lot of energy is required in producing these bags: The total amount of energy required to drive a car for one kilometre or 0.5 miles is the equivalent energy needed to produce nine plastic bags. It is not rational that these non-renewable resources are used to make plastic bags when the typical useful life of every polythene is around 12 minutes.

4.Plastic bags are toxic: The plastic bags are filled with toxic, and harmful chemicals which include estrogenic-like substances. According to Environmental Health Perspectives report, the plastic has hormone-mimicking qualities, and it releases chemicals that mimicked estrogen. This is harmful because it disrupts hormones, such as estrogen and others, behaves in our bodies, causing a hormonal imbalance that could have several harmful effects on our health.

5.Plastic bags are harmful to wildlife and marine life: Birds, animals, and marine life such as sea turtles and fish often make mistakes and consume plastic bags and other plastic materials for food. Once they consume these plastic substances and materials, their digestive system gets congested, leading to the development of health infections and death due to suffocation. Sometimes, animals may also become easily entangled inside the plastic.

By- Sakshi Bhardwaj