By H H Mohrmen
Once again June 5 is here and we are all preparing to observe World Environment Day which has become more of an annual event to showcase how much we care about the environment which ultimately ends up being a one day affair. In all probability even the organisers of the different World Environment Day celebration forget the theme of the yearly celebration just few days after June 5 each year. The theme of this year’s celebration is ‘End plastic pollution,’ so can we afford to mke light of this theme and ignore the enormous plastic problem that we are facing?
How serious is the threat of plastic pollution one may ask? And if we are still not aware of its dangers, then we should be aware that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than fishes and consider the impact of this on the main food item that we eat. We have to say this because we have become so selfish a being that we only thinks when it hits us hard in what is of interest to us and in this case – our own food.
It is said that the Urban Indian citizen generates nearly 700 gram of solid waste per person per day which will come to almost 250 kg in a year. This is how much waste we produce. Are we even aware of this? Or are we becoming oblivious of what we produce which in the end will only affect the planet that we will hand over to our children and grandchildren? Of the 700 grams we produce, part of it is wet waste that can be easily turned into compost using a very simple procedure, but the sad part is in India the Municipality area is currently able to compost only 0.21% of the wet waste we throw away. However, the major threat of the waste we produce on a daily basis is plastic and of this 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean each year.
Plastics make up 10% of all the waste we generate and out of 700 grams which means that 10 grams of every waste we generate daily is plastics. Plastic has been part of our life and sometime it is even difficult to think if we can live without plastic because it has become an integral part of our lives. And because plastic is part of our life we are not even aware that we contribute to the selling of 500 billion plastic bags each year in the world. We cannot blame others but ourselves for the problem that we are in now.
Sometimes blinded by desire to quench our thirst we buy water bottles and cold drinks which again contributes to wasting a million plastic bottles every minute. Yes the same plastic bottles that we inadvertently buy when we get a bottle of water or a bottle of cold drinks or the same plastic water bottle that we love to line-up on the table even when we celebrate World Environment Day because it is convenient is one of the major threats to the environment of the world we live in.
Now the question is whether a one day celebration which this year is also going to be hosted by India Stop Plastic Pollution? In Meghalaya we have experienced failure in the effort of banning the use of plastics. The government had even prohibited the use of plastics by shops and other commercial institutes but where are we now in Meghalaya with regards to plastic use? It looks like it is devil that we find difficult to beat because our efforts to ban plastic has met with dismal failure even when we have the law on our side. Is there no way to beat plastics? If the government has failed how can we even think of beating the plastic pollution?
Like everything else the fight against plastic pollution should start from oneself. There is no point in the government promulgating stringent laws against plastic use if the people themselves are still using it. We can start beating plastic pollution by voluntarily giving up the using of plastics! I know this is difficult and wonder if it is even possible but the point is we should at least make an effort to achieve that goal. If we want to beat plastic we should start from some point. There should be a beginning or else we will go nowhere. Again with regards to our fight against plastic, we can start with the famous ‘3Rs’, if we cannot Refuse the use of plastic, then we can at least make an effort to Reuse. We see many families taking the trouble to wash plastic so that they can reuse it. We have been saving our plastic for our relative who own grocery shops to reuse it. And lastly those that we cannot reuse we can at least get it Recycled.
I make refusing plastic a rule for myself. A church I visited last Sunday celebrated the 125th anniversary since it was first established, and when we were offered tea in a plastic cup I respectfully refused the offer. I politely told them don’t worry about me because I carry water in my bottle and will rather not use plastic cups. Again I say it is possible to beat plastic because we are currently doing it in our house. Even if there is no effort from the Jowai Municipal Board to manage the waste that the people generate, we have already started segregating our waste at source on our own. We put plastic bottles and other items that can be recycled in a separate bag and hand it over to the collectors because we know they can sell it to the vendors who can get it to a recycling unit. So we don’t have to wait for the government to start waste management process in our town and cities to segregate our waste. Likewise wet waste can be easily converted to compost especially by those who have kitchen gardens and the internet is full of videos on different composting methods which are also easy to replicate.
I was on a personal visit to a very reputed institution in Guwahati last Friday and saw a flyer posted on the notice board which says, ‘Give up to give back!’ So yes if we want to give back we have to give up some of our wasteful practices, habits and lifestyles which are harmful to the environment. We saw a report about an IAS officer who cycles to his work. Yes sometimes taking a car to our work is but a status symbol which is hard to give up. Refusing to send our kids to school on a school bus or on a vehicle sharing basis is also a status symbol which can be achieved only if they travel to school in a private vehicle and of course the more expensive the car the better.
The way we fall prey to the market tricks and compete in buying new products, even if we don’t really need them but we buy them just because it is stylish to have one, is also an attitude which only helps in generating more waste to pollute the environment. My youngest daughter came home one day wearing a fancy T-Shirt which says, ‘I’m not shopaholic; I’m just helping the economy.’ You now know what I mean. This is what they want us to believe.
On the other hand the government can impose fines on companies and business entities which wrap or bottle their product in plastic containers. The government can also force the corporations which produce cold drinks or other products to buy back the bottles from the consumer and reuse the same. This will help reduce the waste and add to the plastic problem that is already piling which will also intimately end in the ocean.
The key to a clean, garbage free city and to ultimately beat plastic lies in citizens doing their civic duties. We should stop pointing fingers at the government and the municipalities for the mess that we are in, because we generate the waste in the first place. The world can beat plastic if everybody stops using plastic or reducing the use of plastic. So let us ensure that our children celebrate a clean environment every day.