WHY WE NEED TO STOP USING SINGLE USE PLASTIC?
Single use plastics are made out of fuel-based chemicals and literally meant to be disposed right after use. We often use single use plastics in form of bottles, bags, straws, wrappers, packaging, and etc. Plastic is a chain of synthetic polymers that was invented in the mid-19th century and its popularity starts to rise at the 1970s. Since then, single use plastic are starting to replace traditional paper or glass because it’s way lighter and more durable.
According to the Geyer Jambeck Law 2017 the single use plastic waste has been increased throughout years. On 2015 as many as 300 million tons of plastic waste was generated. It’s a huge amount right? And what’s terrible is those plastic waste are end up in the ocean. Marine plastic litter is increasingly recognized as one of the greatest threats to global oceans, and the living creatures who depend on them. The impact of plastic pollution through ingestion and entanglement of marine fauna, ranging from zooplankton to cetaceans, seabirds and marine reptiles, are well documented. The plastic they adsorb transfer to their tissues and organs which impacting marine mega fauna as well as lower trophic-level organism as well as their predators. Both macro and micro plastics have been found from small zooplankton to the largest whales, from worms burying in the seabed to seabirds feeding in the upper ocean.
In Indonesia the single use plastic waste are also concerning. Marine plastic litter in Indonesia is not only on the sea’s surface and beach, but also has been found in deep sea sediment ranging from 66.8 to 2182 M in southwestern Sumatra waters in the eastern Indian Ocean. 8 out of 10 marine sampling location is containing micro plastic. Not only in the ocean but plastic litter are also filled the land. The largest landfill in Indonesia, Bantar Gebang Landfill is a ticking time bomb. Bantar Gebang is located in Bekasi is literally the mountain of trash. Every day, 6,500 to 7,000 tons of trash end up in Bantar Gebang. If this waste are not proceed with a viable method the dump may shut down in 2021 which only 1 year left from now. And when a landfills are overfilled there is a chance for an explosion to take place. So what should we do?
You can save the earth by doing simple action such as swap single use plastic with reusable goods. Do you know that it is estimated that somewhere in between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags are consumed throughout the world each year. You can swap your single use plastic bags with the reusable one. Start to bring your own reusable straw, cutlery, water bottle, food container whenever you go outside to avoid the single use one. Or maybe you can start to recycle your waste or accumulate your single use plastic and send them to the waste management. Let’s save our earth together, make the world a better place to live in!
References
Aziza, A. N. (2019, October 14). Vice. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/7x54jd/the-worlds-largest-dump-is-in-indonesia-and-its-a-ticking-time-bomb
Eriksen M, L. L. (2014). Plastic Pollution in the World’s Oceans:. PLoS ONE, 15.
Gogte, M. (2009). Are Plastic Grocery Bags Sacking the Environment? International Journal for Quality Research, 364.
Lindwall, C. (2020, January 9). NRDC. Retrieved from https://www.nrdc.org/stories/single-use-plastics-101#:~:text=Put%20simply%2C%20single%2Duse%20plastics,wrappers%2C%20straws%2C%20and%20bags.
Post, T. J. (2018, October 28). Jakarta Post. Retrieved from https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/10/29/bantar-gebang-dumpsite-has-three-years-left-official.html
UNEP. (2018). SINGLE-USE PLASTICS: A roadmap for sustainabiity. United Nation Environment Programme.