Plastic Bag Free India

International Plastic Bag Free Day is dedicated to raising awareness about the very real and pressing issues of plastic pollution. International Plastic Bag Free Day is celebrated on July 3rd every year to create awareness about the dangers of using plastic. It is also to encourage people against using a plastic bag. So on International Plastic Free Bag Day 2022, let’s pledge to avoid the use of plastic bags and encourage the use of eco-friendly bags.

Every day, we learn more about how plastic is affecting this planet and how conglomerates are cutting down on plastic. But as an individual, you need to do your part too. We need to think it through when using plastic bags in regard to what it does to our environment and how it will wreak havoc in the coming years. Plastic bags remain in the world for anywhere from 100-500 years before finally decaying completely. It is imperative that we collectively take action.

International Plastic Bag Free Day was created by Bag Free World. It was created as a worldwide initiative for the sole purpose of getting rid of the single-use of plastic bags around the world. It is about promoting environmental conservation by encouraging us all to stay away from the use of plastic bags and opt for eco-friendly alternatives

International Plastic Bag Free Day Theme another theme ‘Zero Bags – Zero Waste’.

Activities ____

• Say no to single-use plastic bags.
• Take your own cloth or paper bag when you go shopping. Not only will you be saving money – several grocery stores give discounts for patrons bringing in their own bags, you will also be helping to save the environment.
• If you are crafty, make your own bag and carry it with style.
• Volunteer your time or money with an environmental organization that works on cleaning water and landmasses of plastic bags.
• Recycle all the plastic in your house and office.
• Spread the word to your family and friends.
• If you are a company, why not make promotional cloth bags to give away to your clients and customers?

Shocking facts about how plastic pollution

1. According to National Geographic, 73% of beach litter is plastic. Most of the waste includes filters from cigarette butts, bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers, grocery bags, and polystyrene containers.
2. More than eight million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year.
3. An average person east 70,000 microplastics each year. According to a study published in Environmental Pollution, about 100 bits of microplastics are consumed over the course of one meal.
4. In the last ten years or more, we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century.
5. Every minute, around the world around a million plastic bottles are bought, according to The Guardian. The figures are set to increase to 20 % by 2022 if no measures are taken. 
6. Currently, we throw away so much plastic that it can circle the earth four times and we recycle only five percent of it.
7. According to National Geographic, some 700 species of marine animals have been reported to have eaten or got entangled in plastic.
8. Americans have thrown away 35 billion plastic water bottles every year.
9. Plastic present in the oceans kills one million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals.
10. If the current plastic production is not solved, then plastic waste will outweigh fish pound for pound by 2050.

 Malls and shopping centres have pledged to stop the use of single-use plastics. International Plastic Bag Free Day 2022 which is in its 10th edition brings together an international coalition of NGOs to build a future free from plastic pollution. The day also promotes how to reduce the use of plastic and to use alternatives.