On Wednesday, millions across the world marked International Plastic Bag Free Day by not using plastic bags, one of the biggest threats to our environment, especially marine life.
According to the Worldwide Fund for Nature around 300 million tonnes of plastic are produced every year, with much of it ending up in landfills or polluting the seas, in what has become a growing international crisis.
The plastic pollution of our seas have reached a very critical level that researchers have warned that plastic in the sea is being found in the stomachs of fish, birds, turtles and whales and that tiny pieces of plastic - microplastics - had also been found in oysters and mussels.
Like Chairperson of Qatar Museums, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said in an Instagram post “if we continue consuming plastic bags at the same rate it will be more plastic in our oceans than fish in 2050.” She urged everyone to “use reusable bags everyday and start the change”.
A lot had been done on Wednesday, July 3 by government and private stakeholders. But, to fight something which is so ingrained in everyday life, everyone needs to step in and take ownership. Every household must assume responsibility and should start to refuse or at the very least reduce plastic consumption.
The Ministry of Municipality and Environment marked International Plastic Bag Free Day 2019 by organizing many awareness activities to educate the public on the need to limit the use of plastic bags to preserve and sustain the environment. Many large supermarkets also chipped in by distributing reusable bags to customers.
These initiatives are a good starting point for the fight against plastic pollution and need to be sustained with people adapting simple lifestyle changes like carrying a reusable bag while going for shopping, refusing plastic straw (one of the biggest polluters of oceans) at restaurants and using reusable glass bottles instead of plastic ones for water.
There are many positive news coming from around the world as more and more people are becoming aware of the situation. Many countries, including more than two dozen in Africa, have banned plastic bags, and the EU has voted to outlaw 10 single-use plastic items, including straws, forks and knives, by 2021. The G20 has set a goal to reduce plastic trash leaking into the ocean to zero by 2050.
This year’s World Environment Day slogan was #BeatplasticPollution. By making small changes to our daily habits we can make huge difference. Let’s all join hands to make this world a better place for all.
