GENERAL

STUDIES
FILE

Name-
Class-
Roll No-
CERTIFICATE
• It is hereby certified by Yug Pal of class XII-E has
performed this project in academic year 2023-24
under the guidance of Mrs.

Teacher’s Signature Principal’s Signature

Examiner’s Signature
Acknowledgment
I would like to express a deep sense of thanks and gratitude to
my teacher Mrs. for her constructive guidance and
constant motivation have been responsible for the successful
completion of my project.
My sincere gratitude goes to our principal Sr. Sheeba for her
co-ordination in extending every possible for the completion
of this project. I also thank my parents for their motivation
and support last but not the least I would like to thank all
those who had helped directly or indirectly towards the
completion of this project.
Name-
Class-
CONTENT
PLASTIC BAG POLLUTION
• Every year, around 500 billion plastic bags are used
worldwide. 500,000,000,000. Five hundred followed
by nine zeros. That's a lot of bags. So many that over
one million bags are being used every minute and
they're damaging our environment.
• Big numbers can be daunting so let's put it another
way. Every man, woman and child on our planet uses
83 plastic bags every year. That's one bag per person
every four and half days. Of those 500 billion bags,
100 billion are consumed in the United States alone.
POLLUTION
• Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and most end up on landfill sites
where they take around 300 years to photodegrade. They break down into tiny
toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain
when animals accidentally ingest them.
• But the problems surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before they
photodegrade. Our planet is becoming increasingly contaminated by our
unnecessary use of plastic bags.
• Big black bin liners, plastic carrier bags carrying advertising logos, clear
sandwich bags and a variety of other forms are all polluting our environment.
They're lightweight, handy and easily discarded. Too easily discarded.
• While they were rarely found during the 60s and 70s, their usage has increased at
an alarming rate since they became popular during the 80s. Just take a look
around you. Plastic bags can be seen hanging from the branches of trees, flying
in the air on windy days, settled amongst bushes and floating on rivers. They
clog up gutters and drains causing water and sewage to overflow and become the
breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that cause diseases.
DANGERS TO SEA LIFE
• Plastic bags are now amongst the top 12 items of debris most often found along
coastlines ranging from Spitzbergen in the north to the Falklands in the south.
• Animals and sea creatures are hurt and killed every day by discarded plastic
bags - a dead turtle with a plastic bag hanging from its mouth isn't a pleasant
sight but mistaking plastic bags for food is commonplace amongst marine
animals. Plastic clogs their intestines and leads to slow starvation. Others
become entangled in plastic bags and drown.
• Because plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down, every year our seas
become 'home' to more and more bags that find their way there through our
sewers and waterways. Every bag that's washed down a drain during rainfall
ends up in the sea - every bag that's flushed down a toilet (many small bags
are), ends up in the sea - every bag that's blown into a river will most likely end
up in the sea.
• Add to that the enormous amounts of energy that's used every year in order to
manufacture these bags and it's no surprise that pressure is being put on
governments to make changes and consumers to re-think their attitudes.
POLLUTION TAXES AND BAN
• Following the levy of taxes on plastic bags in Ireland, usage dropped by 90
percent. Several countries have already banned their use and more will
doubtless follow.
• While anything that lowers our consumption is good, why wait until we're
hit financially before we change our habits when changes aren't difficult to
make?
• How about taking previously used bags with you next time you go to the
shops? Or even better - turn back time and do as grandma did and take a
sturdy bag with you every time you go shopping.
• Shop-owners would much rather you use their bags as they're a convenient
and cheap form of advertising, but what's more important, shareholder
profits or the environment?
• Plastic bags can be re-cycled although only about one in every 200 ever
find their way to a re-cycling unit. Find out if there's a re-cycling bin near
you and, if not, lobby your local authority for one.
GREEN HOUSE GASES
• Some countries have introduced so-called "environmentally friendly plastic bags"
that are biodegradable. These bags take about three years to break down into
practically nothing and while that sounds like an attractive solution, the truth is
that the process of breaking down these petrol based bags causes carbon to
become methane which is a greenhouse gas.
• It's also possible to get 'plastic' bags manufactured from corn. These break down
very quickly and give off no more methane than any other corn product on landfill
sites. Unfortunately, they're more expensive to produce and few shops use them.
• Until a real alternative is freely available, the only solution is a re-think of attitude:
• Re-use bags when shopping.
• Choose biodegradable bags to use for litter (photodegradable bags used in this
way are guaranteed to end up on landfill sites taking hundreds of years to break
down).
• Re-use large plastic sacks whenever possible.
• Refrigerate food in containers rather than plastic bags.
CONCLUSION
• By refusing to use plastic bags, you can make a huge difference to the
pollution problem. Remember that each person uses about 83 bags a year. If
there are four people in your family, that's 332 plastic bags less every year.
• That's 332 bags less that will:
• Release toxins into the ground water from landfill sites.
• Stay in the environment for hundreds of years while they break down.
• Get into the food chain through animals that ingest small particles of plastic.
• Waste energy during the manufacturing process.
• Kill any of the estimated 100,000 marine animals that die each year of
plastic pollution
• These are all-important factors that have a profound affect on our
environment and the creatures we share our planet with. Should we really
put our own selfish needs before the needs of everything around us now and
the lives of future generations? That's up to you to decide.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• google.com
• wikipedia.org
• lacounty.gov
• sustainme.in
• aplustopper.com