Terrible Home & Life Habits That Are Harming The Wildlife Around You

6.Littering

It may come as no surprise that littering is bad for the environment. Discarding litter, especially plastics, can have severe consequences for wildlife through ingestion or entanglement. One solution is to make sure you’re disposing of litter properly and effectively. You can do this by participating in local cleanup efforts and reducing your consumption of single-use plastics.

Littering can also stunt or prevent plant growth. Small animals tend to crawl into small jars, where they get stuck and eventually starve to death. When animals eat plastic bags, it can destroy their metabolism and lead to starvation and death. Animals can also cut themselves on certain types of litter, which might lead to a fatal infection. According to Plano, cigarette buts can take five to 30 years to decompose, styrofoam can take over one million years to decompose, aluminum cans can take up to 500 years to decompose, and plastic bags can take up to 600 years. If you can avoid using any of these items, you’re doing your part in helping the environment and making it safer for the innocent wildlife around us (Plano).