Plastic Bags, Plastic Bottles And Plastic Packaging Are Bad For The Environment | Band 8 IELTS Essay Sample
Plastic bags, plastic bottles and plastic packaging are bad for the environment. What damage does plastic do to the environment? What can be done by governments and individuals to solve this problem?
Here is a band 8 IELTS essay on this topic written by one of our students. Need help with IELTS writing? Get your IELTS essays, letters and reports corrected by me.
Band 8 IELTS essay sample
‘Plastic is no longer fantastic.’ Almost every one of us may have stumbled upon this recent quote. When it was first invented, it was thought to be a revolutionary product, but plastic bags, bottles and packaging are turning out to be incredibly harmful for Mother Nature. This essay will discuss the harm caused by plastic and suggest some measures that both the people and the government can take to address it.
Plastic does not decompose. Once it is disposed of, it stays in the soil or water for centuries or even millennia. There it pollutes the land, affects its fertility and clogs sewers. It affects the growth of plants. And when plastic reaches water bodies, aquatic beings often choke on them. You could have mentioned these points as well. For example, micro-plastic, which are very tiny particles of these plastic items, has been found in almost all sea creatures and even in some newborns of a few island countries in substantial amounts. As the trash dumping into oceans is increasing, it is a devastating situation for the fauna and ecosystem of the seas because it affects the survival of these species.
Governments of various nations have come forward together to establish rules and regulations to control this climate change which is the effect of these causes. Governments can ban the use of plastic bags that are below 50 micron level to control overuse. They can set out rules and issue guidelines for using these items in a controlled manner. Additional taxes and penalties can be levied on the manufacturing and use of such items. For instance, the state of Maharashtra imposed strict penalties for using plastic bottles and bags which resulted in a significant drop in the amount of plastic on dumping grounds.
There is a limit to what the government can do and individual citizens also need to realize the need of the hour and start acting responsibly. For example, people need to stop using plastic cutlery items while ordering food from order aggregating sites such as Zomato or Swiggy. People should not litter in public places and prefer using paper packaging.
To recapitulate, the use of plastic is damaging the very fabric of nature by polluting water and land and causing the extinction of various types of animals, fish, etc. To resolve these issues the government should enact laws that penalize the use of plastic and the public should opt for eco-friendly alternatives.
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