Most people use plastic bags every day. Whether shopping for groceries or a new pair of jeans, most likely the retailers are placing their goods in plastic bags. While plastic bags may seem necessary for shopping, they are a big strain on the environment. It can take up to 500 years for plastic bags to disintegrate, which means they are a large part of landfills and contribute to polluting waterways, destroying wildlife, and harming human health.
International Plastic Bag Free Day, celebrated on July 3 this year, is a worldwide initiative that strives to heighten awareness of the damage caused by plastic bags and to eliminate the use of them. Plastic pollution is a global catastrophe that is man-made and part of the reason the ecosystems are suffering. Hundreds of marine mammals and sea bird species are known to have ingested marine plastic. Still, more have become entangled in plastic.
Additionally, plastic pollution is dangerous because it transports invasive species, which can have adverse effects on biodiversity. People are not immune from the impact either. Plastic particles in the ocean attract toxins, which enter the food chain and can lead to poor health.
Small efforts add up to big differences.
International Plastic Bag Free Day is an opportunity to consider that every plastic bag used and disposed of affects the world for generations to come. Created to get rid of the plastic bags around the world for environmental conservation, International Plastic Bag Free Day encourages eliminating them for more eco-friendly alternatives.
Every action, regardless of how big or small, helps. Some countries have taken bold steps and opted for bans on plastic bags, like China, Israel, South Africa, Italy and Rwanda. Some companies have initiated their own programs to contribute to the cause.
Life Solutions, a leading sustainable company responsible for providing clean, safe, and healthy drinking water through water filtration systems is one such example.
Through its Yangtze River Plastic Recycling program at Wusong Pao Taiwan Wetland Forest Park in the Baoshan District, a protected area located in the last section of the Yangtze River Delta, Life Solution employees volunteered their time recycling plastic. In cooperation with the Green Initiative, this recycling effort actively contributed to protecting rivers, marine life and ecosystems overall. By doing social impact work and sharing the importance of being socially responsible, they helped to make a difference.
Every day millions of plastic bags get used and discarded. Without countries, organizations and people getting involved now there will be hundreds of millions of pounds of plastic clogging oceans and rivers in the future. Choosing paper or cloth over plastic bags – even for one day – makes a difference. If the use of plastic bags can be eliminated on this one day, it can be done throughout the year. And as a result of this continuous effect, the dangers associated with plastic bags, like the harm they have on marine life, animal life, and nature, can be reduced.
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