- Target:
- Indian public, government of India, World Health organisations, Indian newspapers, World newspapers
- Region:
- India
- Website:
- www.wwfindia.org
Plastic bags chock drains. Every bag that's washed down a drain during rainfall ends up in the sea every bag that's flushed down a toilet (many mall bags are), ends up in the sea - every bag that’s blown into a river will most likely end up in the sea.
Besides choking drains, plastics are highly toxics. When burned they release cancer-causing gases. Lying in the garbage, polythene bags also find their way in gut of cattle, asphyxiating the animals. The cheap bags contain chemicals such as cadmium- or lead-based chemicals that are harmful to health. They leach into vegetables, meat and food.
An estimated 15 lakh computers and 30 lakh mobile phones are disposed of every year in India. Computers, mobiles and other electronic items generate hazardous e-waste like lead, brominated flame retardants and chromium which can cause cancer. There is another problem: India has more to deal with than just the waste generated at home. The Environment Protection Authority of Britain recently said 23,000 tonnes of e-waste was dumped in India, China and Pakistan.
Every year, around 500 billion (500,000,000,000) plastic bags are used worldwide. So many that over one million bags are being every minute and they're damaging our environment.
India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Yet, precious little has been done to recycle, re-use and dispose of plastic waste.
Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade. They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them. But the problems surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before they photo degrade.
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The Completely ban the use of polyethene bags petition to Indian public, government of India, World Health organisations, Indian newspapers, World newspapers was written by pratap singh tomar and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.