Polythene Bag: Polythene bags tend to disrupt the environment seriously. They get into the soil and slowly release toxic chemicals. They eventually break down into the soil, with the unfortunate result being that animals eat them and often choke and die. So it is time to refuse plastic bags in all aspects and use the alternatives such as paper bags, jute bags, etc.

Sachets:  Sachet packaging, usually made of a thin film of plastic and aluminum in a sandwich laminate form, has captured many market segments of developing and underdeveloping countries. There is no question that sachets have brought better quality products to poor communities. The problem is that they have become a waste nightmare, threatening to overrun landfills and create new ones from what are otherwise beautiful landscapes and endangering the water supply by contamination.

Plastic Straw: Plastic straws are one of the most widely used, and therefore disposed of, plastic products. They are particularly prone to ending up in our waterways, and ultimately the oceans. Most plastic straws simply break into ever-smaller particles, releasing chemicals into the soil, air, and water that are harmful to animals, plants, people, and the environment.

Food and Personal Care Product Packaging: There mostly used plastic in food and personal care packaging that ultimately resulted in producing non-biodegradable wastes. 

Plastic Toothbrush: Plastic toothbrushes take over 400 years to decompose. They remain in landfills indefinitely. As they settle into the landfill, they release chemicals into the air. This results in even more damage to the environment. We must use the alternative like a wooden toothbrush instead of plastic.

Plastic Utensils: Single-use plastic utensil has especially become easily disposable leading to plastic pollution and environmental degradation. Plastic food dishes, straws, forks, and spoons are packaged together with this food to enable the consumer to eat then later dispose of the unwanted. More than half of the plastic used is thrown away without being considered for recycling or being put to other uses. This ultimately ends up leaving carbon footprints on the earth.

Paper napkin: Paper napkin is a user-friendly, biodegradable product that is widely used all over the world. Despite being biodegradable, it has a significant environmental impact. It takes approximately 31,500,000 gallons of water to make the 450,000,000 paper napkins used in just one day and causes to cut down millions of trees every year (Source). To protect our environment and the living beings, we should avoid the use of paper napkins. We can use cloth napkins instead of this. 

Styrofoam: Styrofoam takes 500 years to decompose, with limited recycling options. It is one of the most environmentally unfriendly types of waste that exists in our environment. It creates harmful air pollutants that contaminate landfills and deplete the ozone layer. Styrofoam can also leach chemicals into the environment harming water sources. So, the best solution is to refuse Styrofoam and polystyrene products.

Tea Bag: Tea bags have plastic in them and at brewing temperature, they release about 11.6 billion minuscule particles known as “microplastics” and 3.1 billion “nano plastics” into each cup (Source). Due to the plastic content, conventional tea bags cannot completely decompose. There is no other option but refusing to tea bags for a better environment.

Broadly, single-use plastics are found in three forms: Food wrappers, sachets and straws in Bangladesh. Single-use plastics are widely used in restaurants, hotels, airlines, super-shops, groceries, etc. due to the extremely cheap price. Each year approximately 53 thousand tonnes of food wrappers, 28 thousand tonnes of sachets, and 288 tonnes of straws are dumped into the landfills. Food wrappers are mostly made of non-recyclable forms of plastics. Sachets are made of non-recyclable plastics. Around 96% of the total single-use plastic waste comes solely from food and personal care packaging which include shampoo bottle and mini pack, conditioner packet, toothpaste tube, plastic toothbrush, tea bag, various food packets, plastic spoon, straw, cup, plate, glass, and many other plastic wrappers. We must make the right choice and avoid those products to protect the environment from plastic pollution.