Due to their durable nature, plastics have been known to cause a lot of environmental damage. A single bag can take up to thousands of years to completely decompose. The more the plastics, the greater the impact on environmental damage.
Plastics are notorious for cause of water pollution. When we talk of water pollution, it is not the water body that is most affected but marine life, such as the dolphins, turtles and fish. Take an example of the plastic bags, they are very airtight and when a marine creature feeds on them, they could mouth and nostril blockage, leading to suffocation or even death.
Recently in Kenya, a ban was lifted on plastic bags and we can only hope that the threat that they posed to marine life will be reduced. There before, people did not actually consider the dangers that come with using plastic bags. The disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Other than carrying your items in plastic bags of different colors and styles, i see no other advantage of using plastic bags.
However, despite the ban, there is a very high percentage of Kenyans still using plastic bags. After the ban, the National Environmental Management Authority asked all plastic bags producers to dispose the remaining stock at their offices but it seems that very few people took the instructions seriously. They are still at circulation in our markets in very large numbers. One of their representatives nevertheless had said that they did not expect people to act immediately but perhaps in a span of two to three years. My only wish is that as the ban continues to be lifted, there will be a reduction of dangers posed by plastics to our marine life.
