Plastic bottles used worldwide ( yearly ) Single-use plastic bags used worldwide ( yearly ) Plastic straws used worldwide ( yearly ) Plastic cups used worldwide ( yearly )
Disposable coffee cup ( plastic coated / use plastic lids ) used worldwide ( yearly )
Cigarette butts littered worldwide ( yearly ) Face mask used worldwide ( yearly )
Amount of bubble wrap produced worldwide ( yearly )
Disposable single-use baby diapers used in Malaysia ( yearly )
Lady ’ s disposable sanitary pad used in Malaysia ( yearly )
~ 480,000,000,000 ( 480 billion ) pcs ~ 1,000,000,000,000 ( 1 trillion ) pcs ~ 183,000,000,000 ( 183 billion ) pcs ~ 500,000,000,000 ( 500 billion ) pcs
~ 16,000,000,000 ( 16 billion ) pcs
~ 4,500,000,000,000 ( 4.5 trillion ) pcs ~ 1,548,000,000,000 ( 1.5 trillion ) pcs
~ 400,000km ( enough to wrap around the Earth ’ s Equator 10 times )
~ 4,300,000,000 ( 4.3 billion ) pcs ~ 2,500,000,000 ( 2.5 billion ) pcs
Table 1 : Worldwide consumption of plastic products . ( Note : Quoted from various sources , at different year references )
opener for many people , to understand how much we rely on plastics in our daily lives nowadays .
While we enjoy the benefits and convenience from a wide range of products made of plastics , the tremendous amounts of plastic waste disposed in the world everyday becomes an emerging threat to the entire ecosystem of the world , from plastic pollution in the land to microplastics in the ocean , and toxic fumes in the atmosphere from the burning of plastics .
Are Plastics the Real Culprit ?
In general , the most common impact caused by plastics from environmental perspectives include the following :
� Plastics are made from non-renewable resources ; it is naturally non-degradable and stays for hundreds or thousands of years .
� Plastics consumption , especially the single-use products , is tremendous , thus generating and accumulating enormous amounts of plastic waste .
� Plastics drained into the ocean cause the serious problem of microplastics in the seawater , creating a big threat to the ecosystem , and human and animal lives through the food chain .
� Plastics cause suffocation , starvation and drowning to animals , especially sea life and birds , when they ingest them .
� Uncontrolled burning of plastics releases toxic fumes , creating serious pollution to the atmosphere and threatening human health through inhalation .
All these impacts from plastics are undeniable , because we have seen how plastic sheets choke sea creatures to death ; we have seen how a turtle suffer from a plastic straw stuck up the nostril ; and we have also seen how much plastic wastes are found in the stomachs of whales and sea birds lying along the beach .
We have also read reports of plastic wastes clogging drains and causing serious flash floods in many cities ; tremendous amount of plastics in the waste traps installed at major rivers ; huge patches of plastic wastes found floating in the oceans ; landfill sites stuffed with plastics wastes , which will remain till the time of our great grandchildren ; and microplastics that are now found in the body systems of animals and humans .
Don ’ t all these show that plastics are the culprits that pollute our environment and endanger our lives ? Why do we create something that threatens our lives , and we continue using it every
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