Plastic has been hailed as "one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century". However, its inventor may not have been expecting it. For more than 100 years, plastic has brought us not only convenience, but also appalling environmental pollution and destruction. In 2018, the annual production of plastic in the world was about 400 million tons, and millions of tons of plastic waste are dumped into the sea or placed in landfills every year.

Tel Aviv beach overrun with plastic waste

Early in the morning, volunteers at a beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, start picking up litter left by tourists on the beach, including plastic cups, cigarette butts, empty bottles of sunscreen and baby diapers.

Tel Aviv's coastline has the third highest level of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean, according to a report published in June by the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Dugongs have died in eight months after ingestion of plastic waste

Plastic waste that is not cleaned up in time is easily swept out to sea by waves. An eight-month-old dugong baby died in Thailand on May 17. A veterinarian's autopsy found that the baby had a large amount of plastic debris in its gut, which was enough to cause gastritis and blood infections and may have contributed to its death.

The abundance of microplastics threatens sea turtles

The Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic provides food and shelter for many kinds of Marine life, especially sea turtles. However, it happens to be a place where algae tend to collect microplastics from the ocean. Microplastics are plastic particles and textile fibers that are less than 5 millimeters in diameter. When turtles eat, they ingest microplastics in their stomachs. Recently, Greenpeace scientists found that the concentration of microplastics in the area had reached "extremely serious" levels, threatening the survival of sea turtles.

Now many countries have begun to realize the seriousness of plastic pollution, and have come up with their own countermeasures.

Nepal issued Everest "plastic ban order"

According to statistics, in recent years, the Nepal side of the Everest region to receive more than 50,000 tourists, including mountaineers and hikers. The increase in tourists has led to plastic waste strewn all over the Everest climbing route. A garbage cleanup program organized by the Nepalese government has collected more than 10 tons of trash this year, most of it single-use plastic.

In order to change the situation, the local government issued a statement on January 21, which said that from January next year, visitors to the area will be banned from carrying and using any plastic products with a thickness of less than 30 microns. Disposable plastic packaging and plastic bottled drinks are also banned. Local tourism companies, airlines and mountaineering associations will cooperate with the government to enforce the ban.

> San Francisco airport bans plastic bottled water

The Nepalese government's plastic ban on Mount Everest comes a day after San Francisco airport became the first major US airport to ban the sale of some plastic bottled water. According to reports, starting from the 20th, all convenience stores, vending machines and restaurants in the airport, plastic bottled drinks with a capacity of less than 1 liter are sold out and can not be restocked. From now on, drinks of this size can only be sold in glass or metal containers.

Airports have also become big consumers of plastic bottles due to strict security restrictions on liquids passengers can carry. San Francisco, the seventh-largest airport in the U.S., sells 10,000 plastic bottles of water a day, according to estimates. The airport aims to be the first in the world to be free of plastic waste by 2021.

"naked selling" rise of British supermarket test 10 weeks

When it comes to banning the sale of plastic packaging products, there is also a concept to mention: "naked selling". Naked sell is to sell fruits, vegetables, grains, drinks and other common foods, with paper bags, glass bottles and other reusable or degradable containers, can also be directly carried by the customer's own containers.

A large supermarket chain in Oxford, UK, is trying to create a "naked selling area". The supermarket, which sells more than 160 food and drink items, is currently running a 10-week trial.

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