Can’t run away from plastic
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FROM the moment we wake up in the morning and brush our teeth to when we switch off the lights at the end of the day, we are surrounded with plastic.
It has become a lynchpin in our modern life, from single-use cutleries, straws and bottles to car and aircraft components.
As the material is inexpensive, light, durable and easy to shape, it leads to great demand for its products. For example, nearly a million beverage bottles are sold every minute around the world. However, the plastic is not as cheap as thought before. Its cost? The environment.
Malaysia was ranked eighth of the worst countries worldwide for plastic waste, according to a study titled Plastic Waste Inputs from Land into the Ocean published in Science magazine in February 2015.
The study found that Malaysia produced almost one million tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste in 2010, of which 0.14 to 0.37 million tonnes may have washed into the oceans.
The number contributed to more than five trillion pieces of plastic floating in our oceans. – April 25, 2019.