Plastic pollution

Plastic bags, bottles and other disposable plastic objects, discarded carelessly, pollute the earth. Because plastic is so cheap, fairly tough and easily available, it is used in hundreds of ways.

Plastic is used to wrap perishable meats, dairy products and fruit and vegetables. Just about everything, from toothbrushes to tyres, is sealed into plastic packaging for display and sale. There are some good reasons for this, as especially with food items, plastic wrapping can prevent cross contamination, so germs do not get onto your food.

However, most of this plastic is used only once and then thrown away without thought as to where it will end up. And this is where a major problem is created. It is a worldwide problem.

Most of you have seen plastic bags floating around in the wind, along roads, in rivers and on the seashore. You would have seen discarded bags of rubbish thrown out of car windows and left at the side of the road by disgusting people who do not want their own garbage in their cars. Sanitation workers have to clean up this garbage and get it to landfills.

What is worse, however, are the plastic bags, bottles, food packaging, and other kinds of garbage that end up in rivers and then the sea. It’s not so easy to get this plastic out of the sea. Plastic does not break down easily or quickly, and can take many years. Even when it breaks down into small particles, it remains on land and in the sea affecting humans and wildlife. You have heard of seabirds, whales, turtles and fish dying from plastic in their tummies, which they ate because they thought it was food. People are also at risk when they eat fish that have eaten plastic waste.

There are concerns now about how much plastic is being discarded on land and in the sea and steps are being taken to reduce the use of plastic. In some countries, plastic waste is being recycled to use in other forms, like in road building and manufacturing tools.

You can do your part. Use less plastic and dispose of the used plastic carefully.

Note: Plastic waste and Tetrapak (containers for milk – see Nestle’s support for recycling used containers) are now being collected to reduce pollution. There are collection bins. Look for one near you.

Some easy questions for you

Name six kinds of plastic pollution

Give three ways in which plastic is used

Name three grocery items that are perishable

How should you dispose of plastic waste?

Who is a sanitation worker?

What kind of life does plastic have?

Which marine animal thinks that plastic is jellyfish?

How does plastic from the sea find its way into our food?