Did you know that we generate almost 300 million tones of plastic each year worldwide?
Of this, only a fraction of it is disposed properly on a global scale. The rest are either burnt or dumped into landfills so that they decompose.
Here is a fact, it takes almost a thousand years to decompose plastic. The reason it takes this long to decompose is due to the material being man-made and not being present in nature. As our population keeps expanding the use of plastic also increases at a humungous pace. This in turn accumulates in our surroundings causing issues to our own health and damage the environment as well. Many animals also tend to eat plastic which causes them to suffer and, in the end, has a slow and agonizing death. So, what is it that we can do to reduce this hazard?
Well, companies like Notpla have started avoiding plastic and coming up with alternatives to it. For example, a few years ago they came up with an alternative for water bottles called Ooho which is edible and can contain water. It also can contain other substances such as alcohol to a certain limit. It is made up of brown seaweed and is totally renewable. Now they use similar technology to package sachet materials such as shampoo hair conditioner etc. which in turn helps in reducing the use of plastic for packaging. The good part is it is edible so even if animals eat it they are in no kind of trouble. This is an initiative worth praising as reducing the use of plastic has become the need of the hour.
While burning plastic leads to air pollution, disposing of them in landfills lead to the clogging and loosening of the soil particles. The soil also loses its fertility, turning lands into deserts where nothing thrives.
Though Notpla is not just the only company that focuses on reducing the usage of plastic, they are the ones that help come up with alternatives for other companies as well.
Now days even small food joints and other such business establishments have started using paper bags etc. as an alternative. The world is ours to preserve, so let’s join hands with these firms and say no to plastic. While buying groceries and other items when we ask them to not use plastic, it counts as that much less plastic is being disposed of.
Like it is said Charity begins at home.
Image credit: Oohoo
Add Comment