Freedom from Single Use Plastic: Are there any other Options?

The city of Agra is determined to ban single-use plastics. Many social and environmental organizations have launched campaigns in this regard. The organizers of Janakpuri, to be held during the Ramlila Festival in Agra, have decided to keep the 3-day festival of Janakpuri plastic free. The organizers of the large book fair and literature festival, which is going to be held from 11 October to 20 October in Agra, have also passed a proposal to keep this 10 day festival free of plastic.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also said that India will completely get rid of single-use plastic in the next few years. Modi ji requested other countries of the world to do the same. PM Modi took this pledge while addressing the 14th Conference of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) held in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

According to the decision taken by the government, the single-use plastic ban is going to be held across the country from the day of October 2, 2019, the 100th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. From this date, six products made of single-use plastic – plastic bags, straws, cups, plates, bottles and sheets are going to be closed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech from Red Fort on Independence Day this year appealed to the countrymen to stop using single-use plastic. He aims to free India from single-use plastic by 2022.

Single use plastic is one that is used only once and then goes into dustbin. Simply put, the plastic used and discarded is called single-use plastic. We also call it disposable plastic. We use it in our everyday work, such as plastic bags, plastic bottles, straws, cups, plates, plastics used in food packaging, gift wrappers and disposable cups of coffee, etc.

Only 7.50 percent of single use plastic is recycled. The rest of the plastic is buried in the soil, which reaches the sea with the help of water and damages the organisms there. Most plastics are not biodegradable and at some times plastics break down and release toxic chemicals. Such chemicals reach our body through water and food materials and cause serious harm. Since it does not stagnate, the drains choke the drains and harm the animals by going into their stomachs.

We also appeal to everyone to contribute to environmental protection by not using plastic, especially single use plastic. Not only the environment, it is fatal to the entire human race. If we do this sacred work keeping our security in mind, it will still be good. But the government should also make such an alternative and practical arrangement that the public voluntarily and without any hassle stop using plastic.

– Sarwagya Shekhar, Freelance writer, Litterateur