“It can not be right to manufacture billions of objects that are used for a matter of minutes and then are with us for centuries”
Rightly said by Roz Savage, there is no redemption for this action of mankind. What we are doing right now is extremely harmful not only to humans but to all living creatures on earth. This quote is about single-use plastics and what are single-use plastics? These are artificial/man-made substances derived from fossil fuels. Plastics are polymers which come in wide-ranging varieties, like polyethene terephthalate, polyvinyl chloride, and many more. But single-use plastics are characterized by their unique feature of being more toxic than other plastics used in commercial units, thus they are meant to be disposed of right after use. These are most commonly used for packaging and shelf-ware such as bottles, wrappers, straws and bags. Plastic was initially created in the mid-19th century, however, it was only in the 1970s that it became popular, replacing all other substances like paper, glass, iron and wood. Being flexible, highly durable and lightweight, it had wide-ranging uses in all sectors and attracted the youth. Unaware of the consequences the future generations will face, there was a huge boom in plastic manufacturing industries. It is estimated that around 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics have been manufactured since the 1950s, half of them being produced within the past 15 years. The major concern related to plastic is the throwaway culture. We often prioritize convenience, neglecting the long term impacts.
“We don’t need a handful of people practicing zero waste perfectly, we need millions of people practicing it imperfectly”
Plastic has now become more integral to our daily lives, and as we have come to rely on plastic more and more, the amount of plastic waste being generated is immense. We produce 300 million tons of plastic each year in the world, almost equaling the weight of the whole human population, half of which is single-use items. Most plastic finds itself in landfills or otherwise rotting in the environment, with about 91% of it remaining unrecycled. This 91% plastic left alone NEVER degrades, it just keeps breaking apart into smaller parts to form microplastics, which are extremely hard to detect and very harmful to the environment. If consumed by an organism, (which is what happens eventually) especially with marine animals, they accumulate in the animal’s body and puncture the lungs or cause intestinal blockages both of which can result in the death of the entity. Plastic is the main cause of all types of pollution including causing issues in the globe's water bodies, clogging water streams and getting concentrated in certain parts of the river refraining accurate sea/ocean water circulation and causing tremendous health hazards to marine life. Whales' stomachs are full with plastic waste. 90% of seabirds and 100% of turtles are known to have their guts clogged with plastics.
Plastics are also a major cause of global warming. Thus reducing plastic usage and having better alternatives for plastic is the only way to save ourselves from this frightening natural crisis. Plastic has hundreds of uses; some of them are not noticed generally, like pen refills and caps, while others are even reasonable like straws for the disabled and plastic gloves for surgeries. But the right question to ask here is that are there alternatives to these vital objects? Could another eco-friendly material that replace plastic here? And the answer is yes! In fact, as people are becoming more aware. they are also coming up with solutions to such issues. In many restaurants paper straws are available which are single-use but do not cause harm to the environment as plastics do. Plastic gloves are being replaced by rubber gloves which are as elastic as plastic and natural too. The new issue that has come up here is with how diverse plastic functions are. There can not be a single replacement for plastic; instead different roles of plastic are replaced by different materials separately. Examples are –
-plastic bags: jute bags
-plastic straws: bamboo straws
-plastic household containers: glass containers
-plastic utensils: wood utensils
-plastic wrappings: cardboard
There are thousands of ideas which have recently come on to the surface. In all these examples, the common problem was that the replacing material had flaws and did not fulfil the job as efficiently as plastics did. However we are learning to adjust and accommodate. Our sacrifice would not go in vain as our actions today will save tomorrow. No matter how small our actions are(like writing this essay), they will definitely have an impact on protection of the environment . To stop the usage of plastic we can also look back and follow our old methods of survival without plastic. Before colonization Indian households were attuned to the environment. All our answers are in our past - one good example would be the use of banana leaves instead of plastic plates. Respecting the new is also equally important as we are making new advancements daily. Another example to support this point is Polypropylene, which is another great alternative to single-use plastics. Thus, let's join hands together to make our planet plastic free!
“The world is changed by your example and not by others' opinions”
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