Since banning single-use plastics has its limits in making a difference to our health and the environment, the solution is to choose sustainable rather than single-use products.
Since banning single-use plastics has its limits in making a difference to our health and the environment, the solution is to choose sustainable rather than single-use products.
Here’s a quick question. What do we find at the intersection of nature’s simplicity and people’s indifference? The unfortunate answer is single-use-and-throw convenience products.
I can list a series of situations that uphold the truth of the above statement.
Tender coconut comes at the top of the list. This gift of nature comes with an exquisite packaging which provides all the goodness required to nourish our body and also enrich the soil after its use. Yet, as human beings, we insist that we need a plastic straw to pull the material. We do this regardless of what happens next and the harm we do to ourselves and our environment by the harm that comes.
Again, our attitude towards flowers and the way we insist that the only way to show our love to our loved ones is to wrap our beautiful bouquets with plastic wrap.
The list may go on. We believe we should place our trust on a plastic spoon, which has traveled many miles to bring us a false sense of cleanliness, while having the best hygiene at our fingertips to consume our food in the most sustainable way. can do Regardless, we pat balloons on our kids, stack them with gifts wrapped in shiny plastic wrappers, and assure them that’s how we define happiness.
It has been more than a month since the ban on single use plastics. Straws, cutlery, earbuds are all things now that should no longer be a part of our lifestyle. It is good to see that restaurants, airlines and many public events are keeping protocol by switching from plastic to paper and wood.
On the other hand, the ban has had little impact on the street vendors who bring us coconut water or the small eateries who operate with low margins and hence it becomes difficult to push back the customers who are entitled to their free plastic facility. feel. Single use plastic is much cheaper than other alternatives including paper.
Cloth bags at the annual Kadalekai Parish on Bull Temple Road in Bengaluru on December 6, 2015 Photo Credit: Bhagya Prakash K.
In fact plastic is widely used simply because it is cheap to manufacture because it is produced from the by-products of other petrochemical products. But then, as consumers, we have failed to crunch the actual numbers. We have missed out on calculating the real price we are paying through damage to the environment and our own health as we ingest plastic fibers in the form of microplastics. Like our water and soil, we are also contaminating our flesh and blood due to chemicals that enter our solid and liquid food through the plastic containers we use.
We must also understand at this point that single-use paper products and even wood is not the best alternative to single-use plastics. Yes, these items are bio-degradable. This is the only positive thing that works in their favor but there is a downside in terms of heavy material foot print in terms of raw material usage. In terms of wood pulp, water and chemicals, these alternatives have a huge impact on the environment. In fact the production of paper requires four times more water than plastic.
In these circumstances, the ban on select single-use plastic items has its limits in terms of making a difference to our health and the environment. How then do we move to a clear stream of reasoning that will lead us to real change?
The answer is simple. We have to choose long term instead of single-use products. Steel, glass or ceramics are materials that are inert and have a long life in their character. All we have to do is sit down with ourselves and bring ourselves to understand the long-term benefits of moving to materials that aren’t single-use and throw. This would mean that we redefine the feature. We are committed to carrying our own bottles, mugs, and other items that we need for the enjoyment of our lives.
And when we sit down for this serious conversation with ourselves, we can be inspired by what Rabindranath Tagore said, “Where the clear stream of reason does not lose its way in the deserted desert sands of dead habit. Where by you The mind is constantly carried forward in pervasive thought and action.”
There are 1.3 billion of us in India. Imagine the impact, if we can lead from the front as people around the world learn to live without not only single-use plastics but also paper.
(Wilma Rodrigues is the founder and CEO of Sahas Zero Waste)