Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Plastic & Road Ahead

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The Perils of Plastics:
It was supposed to be a big gift to mankind. It is used everywhere and has increased our convenience. However, it is time to look at its impact.

Every year we use billions of plastic bags. And each of those end up in landfills or drains or in our waterbodies. Unfortunately, most of us have no idea about the massive impact of plastics on the environment.

The accumulation of plastic in municipal waste poses serious problems in the management of waste, especially the thin plastic wastes that are difficult to segregate. Municipal waste cannot be incinerated because of the presence of plastic in it. When you burn the waste containing plastics it releases dioxin - a class of 75 chemicals - which is carcinogenic and causes birth defects and other serious ailments.

Plastic bags in the landfills also prevents the seepage of water thereby blocking the recharge of groundwater.

There have been angry protests by people after the floodings in Bombay. People raised a hue and cry about plastics choking drains. There were also suggestions by people as to tie a knot to the plastic bags before throwing so that these plastic bags don’t inflate and choke the drains. Well, I know this idea would have originated from some well meaning individual knowing our proclivity to litter without any remorse.

When plastic bags are disposed in the urban areas, there are reports of stray cattle consuming them and dying. In villages surrounding the forests and wildlife sanctuaries, this problem goes unreported. To matters worse, wildlife issues don’t fetch votes. So the effect of plastics on wildlife though devastating goes unnoticed and unactioned.

I was trekking in Masinagudi area bordering Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. I came across a polythene bag that had been swallowed by an elephant and the polythene had come out along with the dung. If it were any other animal, then it would have met sure death.

Getting rid of the plastic bags ie. To ban plastics is easy. The question is how do you clean up this mess? Who will do it? Who is responsible?

The Govt. doesn’t have any money for this. Neither the municipalities have money for this. The industry makes profit out of a product and ideally should pay for its end use and disposal as well. The producer should be held responsible for takeback of hazardous and non biodegradable products.

It is easy to levy a cess on the plastic manufacturers and use it to create a fund for collection and disposal of plastic wastes. The money from the fund can be given to various municipalities and panchayats for collection of plastic garbage.

You can take action:
• You can send this link to people to educate them about the huge impact of polythene. Ask people to use biodegradable material and adopt safe disposal practices for their trash.
• You can stop using polythene bags. When you go to the grocery shop, carry your own bags with you. Ask the grocery store not to give you polythene bags.
• You can ask the authorities to set up waste bins and ensure regular trash collection.
• At the moment few hillstations like Nainital have banned polythene bags. We can campaign to make more and more cities, especially places around our forests, rivers, lakes no polythene zones.
• Spreading this message will help in stopping the ever increasing usage of non biodegradable materials like polythene. Let us all work towards a better tomorrow.