It is the year 2050. The state of our world is far from what you envisioned it to be. Stepping out of the house, you put on a specially designed mask to not breathe in the toxic, hot air clogged with particulate pollutants. The oceans that once brimmed with majestic life, hold nothing but man-made plastics; brutally choking away their predecessors. The finite, precious land is reduced to waste-uninhabitable for humans or animals-consequently leading to forced mass migrations into the little clusters that remain unaffected. With Earth’s biodiversity now diminished, the planet remains but a shell of its former self. And in this bleak, withering world, only one idea prevails: take, make, waste.
This is the future of the currently executed linear economy. The process involves exploiting raw materials, transforming them into a product, and using it up until it accumulates as waste. Although this approach may have seemed suitable at the time of its creation, it does not take into consideration the evanescing nature of resources, space, or its effects on the environment.
Since its invention in 1907, the synthetic polymer has proliferated twentyfold. India alone produces 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, of which approximately 43% is single-use plastic. The same single-use plastic we tear and discard without a thought before devouring our favorite snack, and the ones we collect with every visit to the grocery store. Ironically, what we do not realize is that the durability of plastic-one of its primary allures- turns out to have an eternal lethal impact on the environment.
This is a planetary crisis. We cannot continually rob and taint the Earth’s treasure chest of resources the way we have been for the past centuries. We must rethink and redesign the whole system. But how do we bring about this complete change in our way of living? How do we make sure that WE are not residents of a world like the one previously described? The answer, surprisingly, lies in plain sight.
The majority of essential principles and learnings are generated in some way or another from a single foundation: the environment. All occurrences in the natural world around us are self-sufficient and cyclical. Everything in nature eventually returns to its source, from the circulation of oxygen to the flow of water to the food chain. In its most fundamental form, this is what a Circular Economy is. It advocates the concept of lowering consumption, constructing, and rebuilding the same items to extend life at its best value using renewable sources. While businesses create new rules, revolutionary inventions, and advances to accomplish this, change begins with you. As individual citizens, you can bring about a vast difference just by assuming the following roles:
The Responsible Consumer
As we progress to a brighter future, each citizen will be presented with numerous choices, some sustainable and the others, not. As a Responsible Consumer, one must analyze the factors that go into production, usability, and the product’s potential to be serviced or recycled. One of the few advantages of the COVID-19 pandemic is the emergence of small businesses to whom sustainability is paramount. Now, it is up to us to choose whether to buy the slightly expensive sustainable material or its cheap, plastic alternative.
The Independent Closed Loop
With the world transitioning from linearity to cyclicality, citizens as individual units must do the same. Ensuring that all waste is designed out, and every single resource is utilized through reducing, recycling, and reusing, we must form Independent Closed Loop systems within our homes or locality. This means for every object entering your home, the journey from start to end should be restorative, regenerative, and protracted.
The Educator
We often look at plastic waste accumulation as the world’s problem, not our own. We think the oceans’ five plastic-filled gyres are MILES away, how does it affect us? This disconnect can only be abolished by distributing knowledge. While you may know the severity of the problem and do your role, the neighbor beside you might still be oblivious. So let’s all take up the role of The Educator, spread awareness, and together, save our home.
The Engager
This is our world and as much as we would like otherwise, the only ones who can truly save it are us. Go out, Engage and take responsibility. Switch to that jute bag, refute that straw, innovate and recycle, because every step counts.
Be that change you want to see globally because your choices today, are the foundation of the world tomorrow.
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