Hello, P-assengers! How’s life going? We hope you’re in the best condition. Nowadays, medical masks are still being used by most of the population. This condition is affected by the Covid-19 pandemic that hasn’t shown any setback.
Of course, we know that wearing a mask nowadays has its own advantage. Unfortunately, we’re not looking from other perspectives. Every mask that we use causes a bunch of pollution in our ocean.
According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), at least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean and cause a lot of trouble. An effect that P-assengers may have heard a lot is that turtles have mistakenly seen a plastic bag as a jellyfish. As a result, they are suffocated by those plastics. The same thing happened with other marine animals.
Unfortunately, that’s not just the problem. Lacerations, infections, entanglement, and starvation are other major effects of this pollution.
Additionally, this plastic pollution also affects food and human health. How could that be? But before that, have you ever heard of microplastics, P-assengers? This substance is the thing that affects us. Microplastics are plastic wastes that have been broken down into smaller particles. They have spread all across the world and have been found in our water systems. How miserable is this!
But how do plastics travel around the globe? Every waste that we dump will flow through the waters, specifically rivers. These act as conveyor belts that will send the waste to the open sea. After arriving there, these wastes will have two possibilities. Either go to an island; for example, an uninhabited island named Henderson that collects trashes from Russia, Europe, the US, and other big countries; or they make their own island! Let’s meet at The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It’s an accumulation of plastics from around the globe. If we compare it to Indonesia’s islands, it can cover the whole of Borneo and Celebes!
So, how can we reduce the effects? Consider doing Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Use products that fulfill those three. We could also do waste management. For example, classify organic and non-organic waste. Besides, you can do others that will help to reduce plastic pollution!
That’s all for today’s article, P-assengers. See you!
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