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♤ The land gets littered by plastic bag garbage and becomes ugly and unhygienic.
♤ Conventional plastics have been associated with reproductive problems in both humans and wildlife.
♤ Dioxin (highly carcinogenic and toxic) by-product of the manufacturing process is one of the chemicals believed to be passed on through breast milk to the nursing infant.
♤ Burning of plastics, especially PVC releases this dioxin and also furan into the atmosphere. Thus, conventional plastics, right from their manufacture to their disposal are a major problem to the environment.
♤ Plastic bags can also contaminate foodstuffs due to leaching of toxic dyes and transfer of pathogens.
♤ Careless disposal of plastic bags chokes drains, blocks the porosity of the soil and causes problems for groundwater recharge.
♤ Plastic disturbs the soil microbe activity. The terrestrial and aquatic animals misunderstand plastic garbage as food items, swallow them and die.
♤ Plastic bags deteriorates soil fertility as it forms part of manure and remains in the soil for years.
♤ These bags finding their way in to the city drainage system results in blockage causing inconvenience, difficult in maintenance, creates unhygienic environment resulting in health hazard and spreading of water borne diseases.
♤ Designing eco-friendly, biodegradable plastics are the need of the hour.