The Week Junior UK – 24 August 2019

Microplasticsaretinypiecesofplastic

thatar esmallerthanfivemillimetres

insize.Theyhavebeenfoundinseas

andoc eansfromtheArcticto

Antarctica,inriversaroundtheworld

andhighupinmountainrangessuch

asthePyreneesandtheAlps.They

comefromplasticitemsthatare

thrownawayandlaterbreakapart

intotinypieces.Microplasticsalso

wearoffplasticitems,suchasclothes

madewithman-madefibreslike

polyester.Scientistssaythewind

carriesmicroplasticsaroundtheworld.

Microplastics everywhere

Wateris apreciousresource.Every

personneedsittosurvive,andwe

useit forcooking,drinking,

growingourfoodand washing.

However,itiss carce .Just1%of

wateronEarthcanbeu sedby

humans.What’smore,tr eating

watertomakeitc leana

safeandpumpingittoourhomes

usesuplotsofenergy.Oneeasy

wayyoucanhelpsavewateris

byturningoffthetapwhenyou

brushyourteeth.Youcouldalso

takeshortershowers.

p

Ecotip

oftheweek

als and the environment

TheWeekJunior•24August

Morecountriescutout

single-useplasticbags

10

G

ermany,Pakistan andPanama have become

the latestcountries to announcethat

they have banned, or intend to ban,

the sale of single-use plastic bags.

Morethan 60countries around the

world have nowcompletely

banned or partlyrestricted the

bags, or have introduced fees

to try to stop people using so

many of them.

Single-use plastic bags are

used at mostafew times beforethey

arethrown away.They do notrotlike

natural products andcantakehundreds of

years to breakdown. Many of these bags end

up in the ocean, wherelarger onescantrap

seacreatures, such as turtles and

dolphins. Over time, the bagsfall

apart intocountless tiny pieces

of plastic, known as

microplastics. Fishcan

accidentallyeatthese, which

is bad for their health.

Now,lots ofcountries are

taking action. On 14 August,

the government ofPakistan

banned the sale of all single-use

plastic bags in thecapital city,

Islamabad, and surrounding areas. It is

thought that 55 billion single-use plastic bags

areused inPakistaneach year.InJuly,Panama

became the firstcountry inCentral Americato

ban single-use plastic bags. The ban stopped

supermarkets from selling the bags immediately,

but gave smaller shops until next year to cut out

single-use bags. Signs saying, “Less bags, morelife”

have appeared onPanama’sstreets toremind

people. In Germany,Svenja Schulze, the environment

minister,said, “My ministry will getaplastic-bag ban

on itsway.”However,whenTheWeek Juniorwent to

pressthere wasnot yet any news on when the ban

is likely tocome into force.

The UK Government is planning to bancertain

items, such as plastic drinking straws andcotton

buds from general sale in England next year.

WORLD

LEADER

Bangladesh

wasthe

firstcountry

tointroduce

aban on single-use

plastic

bags in

20 02.

Heavy-duty plastic bags

canbereused many times.

Sea icefromthe Arctic

Oceancontains plastic.

Cleaning up plastic

in Panama City.

nd

DIDYOU

KNO

W?

Leaving the

taprunning

whileyo

ubrush

yourte

eth

wastes nine litres

of

watere

very minute.