Warning of 'white pollution' from daily living habits
(Baonghean) - Using plastic bags has become a daily habit for most people. However, most users only care about the convenience without thinking about the consequences of plastic bags on the environment and human health.
Plastic bags are rampant.
Going to the market to buy food is a daily task for Ms. Pham Hai Yen (Block 12, Truong Thi Ward, Vinh City). On average, she uses 5-7 plastic bags of all kinds every day. Like Ms. Yen, most housewives use a lot of plastic bags because of their convenience.
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| Big C Vinh supermarket uses biodegradable plastic bags. Photo: Thanh Le |
As for business people, there are always nylon bags of all sizes and colors available... Ms. Tran Thi Phuong - owner of Phuong Son grocery store in Phong Toan market (Vinh city), uses an average of 5 - 6 kg of various types of nylon bags per month to hold goods for customers at a cost of about 200,000 VND.
“Now all goods are put in plastic bags, many customers when buying goods also ask for extra bags. Not only dry food is used in plastic bags, I see many people abuse plastic bags to wrap porridge, pho, hot food to take home. The use of plastic bags in our country as well as other countries in the world is constantly increasing. Because of their convenience, people are increasingly dependent on plastic bags,” Ms. Phuong shared.
Plastic bags are present in our daily lives because of their convenience. The analysis results of Nghe An Urban Environment Company Limited show that there are 4.54% plastic and plastic bags in the composition of household waste of Vinh city residents.
| According to scientists, plastic bags are made from substances that are difficult to decompose. The existence of plastic bags in the environment also causes secondary pollution, seriously affecting the soil and water because plastic bags mixed with the soil will prevent oxygen from passing through the soil, causing soil erosion, making the soil infertile, not porous, and lacking in nutrients, thereby slowing plant growth. More seriously, scientists have also discovered that soil and water polluted by plastic bags will directly and indirectly affect human health. Environmental pollution caused by plastic bag waste is now called "white pollution" by environmentalists. |
It is worth mentioning that many people still "carelessly" use plastic bags because of their convenience without thinking about the unpredictable consequences. Especially the current treatment of plastic bags is mainly by collecting and burning, creating very toxic substances. Despite many warnings, plastic bags are still discharged into the environment with greater volume and frequency.
Therefore, finding a way to solve the problem of plastic bag waste, recommending and imposing sanctions on the use of plastic bags is very necessary. If there are no measures to control the use and disposal of plastic bags, plastic bag waste will soon be a threat to human living space.
Continue to raise public awareness
Recognizing the harmful effects of plastic bags on human health and the environment, Mr. Nguyen Van Son's family in Block 1, Ha Huy Tap Ward (Vinh City) has limited their use as much as possible. Having lived abroad for many years with strict environmental regulations in place, he has learned and often reminds his family members and neighbors about environmental protection awareness by limiting the use of plastic bags.
“My family bought two baskets to use for grocery shopping, and all household waste is put in plastic buckets. When it’s time to collect the garbage, the sanitation workers dump the garbage into the truck themselves. Therefore, for many years, my family has not had to use any plastic bags to carry household waste,” said Mr. Son.
As for small businesses, the use of plastic bags for customers also needs to be economical, each type of goods needs to use the appropriate bag size. When customers ask for more bags, they need to explain "it's not because I feel sorry for the plastic bags, but more importantly, using a lot of plastic bags is not good, it affects the environment, especially the next generation". Some shop owners also increase the use of cartons and boxes to pack goods for customers when buying in large quantities...
In addition, large distribution stores and supermarkets have switched to using biodegradable, environmentally friendly packaging for several years now. To limit the use of plastic bags, at the end of 2011, when the Environmental Protection Tax Law began to be applied, people's awareness of environmental protection was raised, and they gradually used plastic bags sparingly.
However, the implementation of the Law on Environmental Resources Tax only creates a certain impact in the beginning. Increasing the price of plastic bags only reduces the consumption and discharge of plastic bags into the environment for a certain period.
According to the Law on Environmental Protection Tax, each kilogram of non-degradable plastic bags will be subject to a tax of VND40,000. However, the current price of plastic bags sold in the markets is still commonly around VND30,000/kg, while the lowest price of biodegradable bags is over VND50,000/kg. Therefore, environmentally friendly plastic bags (easy to decompose) although exempted from tax, cannot compete in price with regular plastic bags. For profit, many businesses still use regular plastic bags.
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| Plastic bags are considered one of the dangerous "culprits" causing white pollution to the environment. Illustrative photo |
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh - Head of Pollution Control Department, Department of Environmental Protection (Department of Natural Resources and Environment) said: Authorities need to proactively coordinate with relevant departments and branches to organize propaganda to the people about the harmful effects of the habit of using plastic bags.
At the same time, propose specific solutions for practical application, such as classifying plastic bag waste for recycling, applying tax incentives for the use of environmentally friendly bags, encouraging multiple use in supermarkets, shopping malls... Limiting consumption alone is not enough, it is necessary to limit it right from the production and import stages. Because manufacturers, in pursuit of profit, do not care about the dangers of using plastic bags. Along with that, it is necessary to continue raising awareness of the whole society about the harmful effects of plastic bags on health protection and the living environment.
In our country, plastic bags are mainly made of PE (polyethylene) or PP plastic derived from petroleum and the decomposition process is very slow. The ingredients of these plastics are not toxic, but the plasticizer additives are toxic to humans. Faced with the above environmental hazards, functional departments and branches are actively encouraging people to limit the use of plastic by propagating its harmful effects, organizing free distribution of biodegradable bags to replace plastic bags, organizing "No Plastic Bag Days" in many localities... However, the effectiveness of current solutions is not high. The more life improves, the more wrapping, lining, and packaging of goods becomes an important and inevitable part of life. Although we know that plastic bags are harmful, eliminating them from life is not easy because we have not found anything cheaper and more convenient to replace plastic bags; The current method of collecting plastic bag waste is ineffective; Calls to limit the use of plastic bags will not be effective when the production and supply of plastic bags cannot be managed. In addition, the awareness of environmental protection in society is not high. The use of plastic bags has become a habit that is difficult to break.
While there are no legal policies and alternative bags to limit the use of plastic bags, each of us needs to take practical and specific actions to minimize the harm caused by plastic bags to our health and the living environment. Just a small action such as changing the habit of using bags economically, reasonably, using them many times... has already reduced a lot of pollution in the environment. What is more necessary is to further strengthen the propaganda and dissemination to all classes of people about the harm of using plastic bags to raise awareness in protecting the environment through each daily action, moving towards eliminating the habit of using plastic bags to protect the health of oneself and one's family and contributing to protecting the living environment. TB |
Thanh Le
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