For quite some time, plastics in the oceans have been in the forefront of environmental discussions. The matter has even been dubbed as yet another planetary crisis. Truly, it merits being so.
Plastics have become an unavoidable part of our living today. There has been an exponential increase in production and consumption of a plethora of commodities to support our needs and greed. Over the last several decades, our lives have been in transformation with ease, comfort and convenience. However, that transformation has come at the cost of escalating use of resources, now putting the natural setting of the environment into a dire threat of imbalance. A bitter side-effect of this well-sought transformation has been the creation of waste the volume and threat of which is wrecking our nerves.
According to World Bank and other concerned authorities, about three billion tons of solid waste is generated on earth every year. This figure could double in ten years time with growing urbanisation and accompanying socio-economic development. Waste management tasks are obviously turning nightmares everywhere. The worries are thickening with the reports of unabated increase in non-degradable plastics which are seriously harming our environment, both on land as well as in the oceans.
It has been proven with evidences that our oceans are being fast infested with plastics. At a turtle hospital in Kenya, hundreds of turtles are being treated for eating plastics. The local fishermen find them floating on water with ballooned bellies. Many scientific researchers have observed that a lot of marine animals die after eating plastic debris. Some scientists have even found that fishes and other marine species mistakenly think plastics to be good food.
Plastic pollution is, in fact, very dangerous and can obliterate ecological balance on earth. It is afflicting our land, waterways and the oceans. Besides ending up in landfills and in inland water bodies, plastics have been invading the oceans at an estimated rate of 8.0 million tonnes per year. This is indeed a choking scenario.
Not that endeavours were made to control the use of plastics. However, because of its cheap cost and more importantly because of our culture of convenience, use of plastic could never be restricted. Bangladesh was one of the few countries to pioneer a chase against use of plastic bags many years ago. However, strict implementation of the law and corruption by concerned authorities let the noble effort run in vain. Today, our drains are clogged, waterways littered and landfills dumped--- all with plastic bags or materials. As a result, we are having more stagnancy of water everywhere, particularly during monsoon. Now, the same threat is emerging in our bay as the waterways carry the floating plastics downstream.
It is time to think seriously about the issue. In the United Kingdom, a movement has just begun to stop use of non-recyclable plastic. The supermarkets have taken the vow to lessen or even stop use of plastic wrapping. The political leadership in preparing the next environmental plan has pledged to eliminate plastic uses that include shopping bags, food wrapping, straws and even bottles for milk and drinks.
While our plastic footprint keeps on growing because of our culture of convenience, we must act now to bring about a habit of living with lesser dependence on plastics. Our oceans must not be allowed to be the doomed destination of our plastic waste.
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