INDONESIA MAKES 187 MILLION TONS OF WASTE FOR YEARS

JAKARTA - Many members of the community have not realized the length of time it takes to break down a plastic bag that is about 12 years old and it takes 20 years to break down unused plastic bottles.

Marketing & Promotion Head Advance Mellisa says the duration of decomposing trash and plastic bottles is inversely proportional to the rate of plastic use worldwide.

"Indonesia is the world's largest and second largest contributor to plastic waste in the oceans, and our country produces about 187 million tons of plastic waste annually," he said in a press release on Wednesday (05/23/2010).

According to Mellisa, this has the potential to pollute the environment. When plastic waste is thrown to the ground, it interacts with water and produces harmful chemicals that degrade water quality.

In fact, water is a vital necessity for the survival of living things. Research results State University of New York, USA, states most brands of bottled drinking water contain microplastic.

Microplastic is a particle not more than 5 mm in size from plastic raw material. If accumulated in large quantities, it has the potential to interfere with growth and reproduction, even increase the risk of cancer.

Therefore, start a healthy lifestyle by doing small things, one of which brings a bottle of drinking water from home.