Medziphema to host workshop about harmful effect of plastics

Dimapur, April 22 (EMN): A programme to highlight the harmful effect of plastics besides a training session in paper bag-making has been scheduled to be held in the town hall of Medziphema town, and the town’s government higher secondary school’s compound, on April 30.
The government’s publicity agency, the Information and Public Relations (IPR) department, issued updates on April 22 informing about the details of the programme.
The time for the event at 10:00 am, the IPR stated.

The event is organised by a group called Atsi & Co in collaboration with a local youth resource CAN Youth of Dimapur.

According to the IPR, the programme aims at making the community aware on the harmful effects of plastic usage which is creating health hazards and destroying the environment.

The workshop will also include training sessions in how to make paper bags. This is for select women. The training in paper bag making is to help reduce plastics use, the IPR stated.

The organisers request schools, churches, community leaders and organisations including youth and student organisations, and other stake holders to attend the workshop.

Plastic pollution
Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects (e.g.: plastic bottles and much more) in the Earth’s environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, and humans.

Plastics that act as pollutants are categorized into micro-, meso-, or macro debris, based on size.
Plastics are inexpensive and durable, and as a result levels of plastic production by humans are high.

However, the chemical structure of most plastics renders them resistant to many natural processes of degradation and as a result they are slow to degrade.

Together, these two factors have led to a high prominence of plastic pollution in the environment.
Plastic pollution can afflict land, waterways and oceans. It is estimated that 1.1 to 8.8 million metric tons (MT) of plastic waste enters the ocean from coastal communities each year. Living organisms, particularly marine animals, can be harmed either by mechanical effects, such as entanglement in plastic objects or problems related to ingestion of plastic waste, or through exposure to chemicals within plastics that interfere with their physiology.

Humans are also affected by plastic pollution, such as through disruption of various hormonal mechanisms.
As of 2018, about 380 million tons of plastic is produced worldwide each year. From the 1950s up to 2018, an estimated 6.3 billion tons of plastic has been produced worldwide, of which an estimated 9% has been recycled and another 12% has been incinerated.

(Source: Wikipedia)