The ongoing threat of Plastic Pollution.

For the longest time, the most popular types of pollution have been air, water, and land pollution. We were taught about these types of pollution at the early stage of our education. And in as much as these types are still relevant today, a new type is emerging and gaining significance in the global community.

Plastic pollution can be said to be the accumulation of plastics in a particular area for a long time that it begins to negatively affect the environment and pose a threat to the flora and fauna within the area. 

One might wonder what it is about plastic that makes it a toxicpollutant.

The materials used in making plastic include crude oil, coal, and natural gas; all which are the three types of fossil fuels – which are dirty, non-renewable and harmful to the environment. . Plastics are particularly dangerous pollutants as the damage caused cut across the three most popular type of pollution. Also, due to the fact that plastics are made to be durable, it is not biodegradable. As a result of this, plastics can never be fully broken down by nature, and as such plastics never completely disappear, rather they shrink until they become tiny particles floating in the water bodies. These particles are in turn swallowed by unsuspecting aquatic animals and this increases the possibilities of humans, terrestrial animals, and other aquatic animals ingesting plastics when these aquatic animals are consumed which is harmful to our health. The effects of plastic pollution do not end there, it affects other areas such as the air we breathe, our lands, our water bodies, the agricultural sector, etc. Furthermore, it is important to know that the causes and effects of plastic pollution are global. And as such no country can escape it, which makes it extremely important that there is collective effort to mitigate the effects and put a stop to it. 

The many solutions that have been proffered become useless if individuals, companies and the government do not take active steps to implement policies and take action towards seeing the end of plastic pollution become a reality.

The following are some of the ways I think plastic pollution can be stopped:

1. The increase of public awareness to this problem and its solutions through media advocacy, outreach programs, and education.

2. Prominence should be given to recycling; we should imbibe the culture of recycling into our everyday routine. Also, incentives should be provided to encourage people to recycle.

3. The rotational cleaning of the water bodies i.e. we should endeavor to clean up areas (most especially areas where water bodies can be found) where plastics are found in little or large quantities.

4. The disposal of plastics in an environmental friendly fashion. 

5. Companies that produce plastics should start producing more reusable and environmental friendly plastics.