According to studies by the Plastic Development Council under the department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, India will emerge as the third biggest consumer of plastics in the world by this year end.
Every year, around 500 billion (500,000,000,000) plastic bags are used worldwide. So many that over one million bags are being used every minute and they're damaging our environment. India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Yet, precious little has been done to recycle, re-use and dispose of plastic waste. Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade. 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 photo degrade. Plastic bags and plastic waste are also the biggest contributors of Environment Pollution in India. Our planet is becoming increasingly contaminated by Plastic pollution and by our unnecessary use of plastic carry bags. Big black bin liners, plastic carrier bags carrying advertising logos, clear sandwich bags, vegetable bags and a variety of other forms used to carry our daily food items and other items are all polluting our environment. 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.
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. Given India's poor garbage collection facilities, tons of plastic bags litter the roads, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground. Hundreds of animals die every year when they choke on plastic bags while trying to eat vegetable waste stuffed in the garbage.
Every bag that's washed down a drain during rainfall ends up in the river/sea every bag that's flushed down a toilet ends up in the sea - every bag that’s blown into a river will most likely end up in the sea. Besides choking drains, plastics are highly toxic. When burned they release cancer-causing gases. Lying in the garbage, polythene bags also find their way in gut of cattle, asphyxiating the animals. The cheap bags contain chemicals such as cadmium- or lead- based chemicals that are harmful to health. They leach into vegetables, meat and food. The decomposition process of a non-biodegradable plastic bag takes up to 400 years and even then, they remain toxic after breaking down. Plastic bags collected in landfill sites take around 300 years to photo degrade.
The facts presented above does not give any pleasant feeling, on the contrary it is very scary. Look at the photograph, do you want your neighborhood and surroundings of your house to be like this. If this continues like this we will have the top of the earth and the water bodies including oceans full of plastic waste. 
Some local governments of Indian metros and other cities have come out with some half hearted measures. Some of the supermarkets and malls in Ahmedabad have introduced a price for the plastic carry bags under a government guideline. The production and distribution of plastic carry bags with a thickness below 40 microns are prohibited. But this is not being implemented very strictly. The neighborhood grocery store and vegetable vendors still hands over the purchases in such low thickness plastic carry bags.
Every year, around 500 billion (500,000,000,000) plastic bags are used worldwide. So many that over one million bags are being used every minute and they're damaging our environment. India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Yet, precious little has been done to recycle, re-use and dispose of plastic waste. Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade. 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 photo degrade. Plastic bags and plastic waste are also the biggest contributors of Environment Pollution in India. Our planet is becoming increasingly contaminated by Plastic pollution and by our unnecessary use of plastic carry bags. Big black bin liners, plastic carrier bags carrying advertising logos, clear sandwich bags, vegetable bags and a variety of other forms used to carry our daily food items and other items are all polluting our environment. 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.
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. Given India's poor garbage collection facilities, tons of plastic bags litter the roads, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground. Hundreds of animals die every year when they choke on plastic bags while trying to eat vegetable waste stuffed in the garbage.
Every bag that's washed down a drain during rainfall ends up in the river/sea every bag that's flushed down a toilet ends up in the sea - every bag that’s blown into a river will most likely end up in the sea. Besides choking drains, plastics are highly toxic. When burned they release cancer-causing gases. Lying in the garbage, polythene bags also find their way in gut of cattle, asphyxiating the animals. The cheap bags contain chemicals such as cadmium- or lead- based chemicals that are harmful to health. They leach into vegetables, meat and food. The decomposition process of a non-biodegradable plastic bag takes up to 400 years and even then, they remain toxic after breaking down. Plastic bags collected in landfill sites take around 300 years to photo degrade.
Some local governments of Indian metros and other cities have come out with some half hearted measures. Some of the supermarkets and malls in Ahmedabad have introduced a price for the plastic carry bags under a government guideline. The production and distribution of plastic carry bags with a thickness below 40 microns are prohibited. But this is not being implemented very strictly. The neighborhood grocery store and vegetable vendors still hands over the purchases in such low thickness plastic carry bags.
Who can put a stop to this, WE, only we can put an end to this and help our environment to recover and sustain.
Do not accept/buy plastic products and carry bags which are not environment friendly.
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