Plastic bags, plastic bottles and plastic packaging are bad for the environment

Plastic bags, plastic bottles and plastic packaging have become everyday necessity and commodity but are leaving bad effect on our environment which is detrimental not only for present generation but also for future generations. Used plastics can be found everywhere in the environment, on land and in the sea. There is mass level of plastic junk released from a grocery store, shopping mall and various other sources which ultimately end up dumping either into the ground or in the sea. Once such plastic waste is buried under the ground, it reduces and destroy the original soil quality by discharging harmful chemicals into the soil. This plastic waste does not decompose and has the ability to survive for long time in the environment. On land, this waste cause the land to become poisonous or infertile by hampering the natural land or soil restoration processes. For example, one scientific study proved that if there is a deposit of plastic present in the soil, the plant seed will fail to germinate indicating that on a large scale, the presence of plastic in the soil can lead to food shortage at some point of time when the level of plastic deposit gets to the dangerous level. Under the sea, whole marine life is affected as it gets eaten by the fish and gets deposited on the corals destroying the marine ecosystem. As an example, recently National Geographic showcased a documentary of a snail walking with a plastic bottle cap on the seabed instead of its natural shell due to the long life of this plastic material and the conclusion was that this change in natural behavior of marine life is concerning for our ecosystem. Overall, the plastic waste is deeply toxic for our planet and to the extent that it will not be otherwise to call it equivalent to the levels of Global Warming. The damage caused by such plastic usage may not be observed by a common man everyday, but it is certainly growing at an alarming rate causing disturbances in our food chain and hence require collaborated efforts by government and individuals to tackle this alarming situation. We can and should contribute at individual level though and self awareness is the easiest way to curb the plastic. I believe business ethics to stop immediate production of this kind of plastic products may not be economical and sufficient way alone. Reusable plastic bags may provide temporary solution to slow down the rate of plastic production while innovating an alternative source of material, mainly bio-degradable, to replace plastic bottles and plastic packaging could provide sustainable solution to this problem. Recently in a global green convention, some of the innovative groups displayed interesting solutions such as shopping bags made of jute, eatable food packaging materials and GPS enabled steel water bottles which may provide a long term solution. Favorable government policies for motivating reduced plastic usage along with subsidizing the businesses supporting the bio-degradable alternatives would provide a definitive approach for handling this enormous task on a global level of making our planet plastic free and ultimately living a healthy life once again.