Warning about dangers of burning plastic waste

BURNING plastic waste and cigarette butts are harmful to the environment and one’s health, a non-government organisation has warned.
Samantha Kuman, of Sustainable Coastlines PNG, was speaking at the World Environment Day celebration initiated by the National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop over the weekend.
Kuman said plastic bags and bottles take 10 to 1000 years to decompose.
She said studies showed that 700 species of marine life were affected by plastic waste, adding close to 100 million marine mammals are killed each by the plastic pollution in the ocean and river systems.
She cited that over one million sea birds are killed by plastic waste in the ocean.
Kuman urged fellow citizens to stop burning plastic containers in front of shop fronts or within their premises or litter it into waterways and drainages or into the ocean to save the marine life and address air pollution.
She extended her call to smokers to litter cigarette filters (butt) at trash bins, saying it contains more than 700 chemicals which are poisonous to marine life.
“Cigarette filters contribute more to ocean pollution,” Kuman said and pledged to become a for the nature.
“They take decade or more to decompose.”
She also warned that plastic waste contain furan (which can cause cancer) dioxin (if inhaled, it can cause coughing, dizziness and suffocation, saying when exposed to it for a long time, it can cause cancer).