When plastic was first invented in the world, it was considered as a boon, as it could help manufacturers produce goods the way they wanted without worrying about shape and size, while also keeping it cost-efficient.?
However, over the years, we¡¯ve witnessed that it can do more harm than good, and now everyone is trying to limit the use of plastic to stop this catastrophe. Sadly it looks like the damage is done.
Plastic, as well all know is not biodegradable. The particles just get smaller and smaller and it ends up landing everywhere -- even in our bodies. It is entering our body through water and the food we eat. And now, WWF (Worldwide Fund) with popular news agency Reuters has tried to give us a reality check by showing us how much plastic we are consuming on a weekly, monthly, six-monthly and yearly basis.
They were able to illustrate this with the help of data derived from over 50 studies on ingestion of microplastics. In case you didn¡¯t know, microplastics are plastic particles which are smaller than five millimetres in size.
According to the study, we consume 2000 tiny pieces of plastic every week -- weighing around five grams -- which is as much as a credit card or a water bottle cap. This much plastic can also easily fill a soup spoon. And out of this, 1769 particles are from water alone.?
The study also revealed that people consumed 182 particles through shellfish, 11 from salt and 10 from beer per week.
Looking at monthly consumption, we manage to consume around 21 grams of plastic, which can halfway fill a rice bowl. In six months this number skyrockets to 125 grams -- as large as a bowl of cereal, and by the end of the year, you would have consumed 250 grams of plastic.
In ten years time, it rises to a good 2.5 kilograms -- weighing as much as a lifebuoy. And by the time your life is over at 79 years, you would have consumed around 20 kilograms of plastic -- as much as two giant dust bins.
Now you might be wondering what will so much plastic do to our body? In the words of Thava Palanisami of the Australia's University of Newcastle, who worked on the WWF study, ¡°All we know is that we are ingesting it and that it has the potential to cause toxicity. That is definitely a cause for concern.¡±
WWF¡¯s International director general Marco Lambertini said ¡°Not only are plastics polluting our oceans and waterways and killing marine life ¨C it's in all of us and we can't escape consuming plastics. Global action is urgent and essential to tackling this crisis.¡±