Pollution. It is an ever increasing issue world wide. One question many have is why isn't more being done to tackle this issue? The ice caps are melting at an alarming rate, countless hard hitting documentaries such as Trashed (2012) and Before the flood (2016).
Back in May this year The Guardian published a article UK taken to Europe's highest court over air pollution. (Carrington, 2018). This shocking article tells the hard truth of how ‘The UK and five other nations have been referred to Europe’s highest court for failing to tackle illegal levels of air pollution.’
With other countries shutting their doors to recycling and rubbish that is transported out of the UK, how will the government tackle this erupting issue? Why is some our recycling going to waste and not being reused? What will become of our growing rubbish pile problem? Why isn’t more being done to promote recycling and reduce the amount we waste?
One useful website published by the American Chemistry Council visually shows and details what the recycled items can be turned into. This can be found here. This site is quite interesting as I was previously oblivious to what can happen with recycled materials. Although this is an American site, the UK government does seem to be slowly putting plans into place for tackling the waste. The most recent plans made is the ban plastic straws in England. There are also talks in place about banning cotton swabs. Back in April this year, BBC NEWS (2018), posted an article answering the public's questions on plastic recycling. This article is an interesting read, it suggests that ‘95% of plastic gets into the world's major rivers’. More questions and informative answers including how households can reduce waste can be found here.
Plastic pollution is only one of many issues that the UK and world are facing. Air pollution is also another huge problem. There is an alarming amount of pollution in the air that is not only damaging the ozone layer but is now affecting our health. Those ‘greenhouse gases’ as they are commonly known by, is now causing illnesses has been linked to pregnancy, child development, respiratory infections and potentially lung cancer according to one post by The Huffpost (2018). The article shockingly states that 'Air pollution is almost as deadly as tobacco'.
These articles show us all the hard-hitting truth of our daily activity. The facts are truly shocking, but it is not too late to change this. Hopefully the government and organisations working to stop this can make a influence on us all.
Photo by Dustan Woodhouse on Unsplash
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