Plastic pollutions are multi-decades old, worldwide problem.

Truly borderless, prolific pollution widespread around the globe.

Scientific researchers are claiming more plastics swimming in the ocean than fishes.  Plastic will soon or later choke us to death for sure.

While great efforts are made, people in developed nations and developing nations alike are currently failing to make substantial progress. 

A ubiquitous part of 21st Century life, plastic. Plastic also constitutes an increasing share of solid waste, clogging drainage systems and contributing to flooding in cities such as Dhaka, Bangkok, and Accra. It is nowthe most commonplace debris found in the ocean, and with eight million more tonnes added each year it may be more prevalent in weight than fish by 2050. As producers find new uses for increasingly sophisticated synthetic materials, integration of plastics into all facets of life has serious implications for public health and the environment.While plastic has long been an environmental threat, microplastics have received more recent attention. Small fragments less than five millimetres in length, microplastics aresneaking into human diets in previously ignored ways.

Recentstudies show that tap water across the world may be polluted by microplastics.Furthermore, up to30 per cent of plastic released into oceans each year could bemicroplastics,entering marine food systems through runoff, wastewater effluent, andillegal dumping.These tiny pieces of plastic have a variety of sources, from degraded or abraded plastic

items to “microbeads” in personal hygiene products. A major concern is that these plastics“act like sponges

” that attract harmful chemicals, pesticides, and bacteria, and are confused for food by marine life.While chemicals associated with microplastics may not kill fish, they can severely impairliver andendocrine function. This presents both an environmental and public healthconcern; fish that consume microplastics include those common in human diets, such asmackerel and striped bass. Despite the measurable threat of plastics to cities, marine environments, and the globalfood supply, plastic use shows no signs of abating, with total production in 2015 roughly400 million metric tonnes. On one uninhabited island in the South Pacific, 3,500 pieces ofplastic wash ashore each day, prompting a marine scientist to describe the ocean as

 Addressing this seemingly intractable problem requires government intervention andlifestyle changes, but the existing decades-long war on plastic is an unproven blueprintand offers little reason for optimism.

SOURCE and full article by 

Prof. Asit K. Biswas & Kris Hartley

Taxonomy

• Water
• Environment
• Chemicals
• Polymers & Plastics