There was a video by a marine biologist who was taking out a plastic straw from the nose of a sea turtle gasping in pain. Such is the plight of our oceans; they have become dumping grounds by large companies producing tones of plastic every year.
Plastic is a material we heavily rely on a daily basis. It has become an indispensable part of our living, but now it has become a threat to humans, animals, natural resources and our planet. In 2019, there was a whale that came to the shore in the Philippines.
The dead whale carried around 90 pounds of plastic in its belly.
The statistics are proof that 10% of the plastic in the ocean is only fishing net. These ghost fishing nets are left by the fishers and constitute around 640,000 tons of plastic that may or may not be eaten by the marine animals but are polluting the water.
To think about, are humans also eating plastic by consuming fishes? Undoubtedly, the answer is yes, and as the plastic has found its way in our system, there are chances of diseases.
So, what is the solution to the menace of plastic? How on an individual level, can we stop using plastic? A family in Canada came up with an innovative solution where they replaced plastic with glass, beeswax, and silicone.
They use all the reusable products including cloth-based coffee filter, glass jar for coffee beans and even toothpaste. If you want to make a difference today, start small and scale-up.
The only conclusion and final solution to the problem are to stop using plastic on the minor and major level. Where large companies should use recycled products and find alternatives, we as individuals should also find out ways to kick plastic out of lives.