BreakFree from Plastic..Be the Change…Do your own bit

90.5% the estimated amount of plastic waste ever made has never been recycled. Think through how much of plastics we consume on a daily basis, no statistics required here. Your daily groceries in plastic carry bags, milk packets, fresh juices or shakes in one time use plastic cups, plastic straws, take out -lunch or dinner in plastic cups, plates, spoons and fork, water bottles, plastic packaging and the list goes on. Most of us, who travel a lot and live in bigger cities, certainly have heavy carbon footprints and add to more plastic waste. Modern day conveniences of Uber Eats, Zomato, Swiggies of the world, home delivery of almost every possible item of consumption by web retailers have added to the plastic menace. And now imagine for how long this has been going on, this whole exuberance of living and feeding on non-degradable plastics. A century ago, it was all self-sustainable mode of living, what was produced locally, was consumed locally, but now whatever you desire it’s at your door step wrapped in plastic.

Have you ever thought about minimizing your daily plastic consumption? While the governments are bringing stricter regulations on banning one time use plastics, small changes in your habits and asking your vendor/shopkeeper to replace plastic packing to recycled paper packing or other nature friendly options will make a huge difference in reducing your daily plastic consumption. Here are few suggested changes that I have inculcated in my routine.

·        Carry your own cloth or jute bag for regular groceries –make it a habit to carry these in your car trunk , bag packs and curb your impulsive buying habits

·        If you are fan of coffee on the way to office, fresh juice from fancy juice shops, carry your own coffee mug or thermos, you don’t need a straw to drink from your own cup!!

·        Plan to go for take-out food - bring your own steel or glass containers - I always do that, not only you are safeguarding your family and yourself from consuming chemical ridden food but also reducing plastic waste

·        Hosting parties, running food drives- use green leaves plates and baked clay cups. In fact stock these like you have been stocking plastic cups and plates for parties; they will always come handy for you. These decompose in days and you can throw them in your backyard garden.

·        Remember to carry your own bottle when you travel, in offices, in meetings. In meetings and conferences, we have the habit of picking plastic water bottles every now and then  and often they are half consumed wasting precious drinking water and adding on to plastic garbage. I just can’t imagine how much of plastic is consumed on a daily basis by corporates and airlines. It's so imperative for companies to turn off the plastic cap and instead replace one time use plastic with bring your own water bottle policy, introduce reusable cups, plates and cutlery. Create awareness among employees; promote paperless and plastic free office. Few companies have already started this initiative but more and more companies and their employees have to pledge towards plastic free work environment.

I find packaging industry and the corporate marketing gimmick of convenience and reaching out to masses in small affordable packaging to be the biggest culprit of accumulation of plastic garbage. There are immense opportunities for businesses to come up with creative environment friendly options. Quite a few named companies have set up aggressive deadlines to completely eradicate the usage of plastic. But corporate giants like Coca Cola, Pepsi, Starbucks, Amazons of the world who have thrived on convenience to consumers, are shying away from R&D to come up with Eco-friendly alternatives. Packaging Industry has to rethink, innovate to nature friendly packaging. Almost all the consumables including medicines are packed in plastics. Some R&D has been done on dissoluble plastics, compostable bags and consumable packaging wrappers but these inventions are yet to see the light of day for commercial use, as well their claims of Eco-friendly plastic is yet to be verified.

Realizing the need of the hour, the Indian Government in its drive to eradicate plastic usage, has banned one time use plastic cups, straws and plastic bags in almost every state of India. India has in fact one of the toughest anti-plastic usage laws, but not so surprisingly these laws are not at all strictly enforced and to my observation and experience most these bans are short lived. Big and small Shops, street vendors continue to give you groceries in plastic bags, unless you remind them or ask them that you need paper bags or other Eco-friendly options. On confronting, they say that its consumers who ask for these plastic carry bags as they never bring their own bags, so we continue to choose convenience over nature. There is a huge need to educate and make the small time street vendors shopkeepers, restaurants owners, to make them aware and educate of the fact they are in violation and there are other cost effective alternatives available. I find few restaurants and street vendors using laminated paper cups and paper straws which is a refreshing change, hopefully they will continue to do so and not give in to customer’s demand of plastic cups and plastic straws. But the claim that paper cups are biodegradable is a far fetched. Effective October 2, 2019 India plans to ban single-use plastics like carry bags, plastic plates, cups, cutlery and some packaging material, hopefully this ban pushes people to look for alternative means and change their habits of consumption. Since this will be a big blow to plastic industry and there are thousands who are employed with this industry, it’s yet to be seen how much this ban will be enforced. This requires a lot of cooperation from us as consumers and also from small scale industries to redirect their investments in nature friendly options of green leave plates, clay cups, paper straws, jute bags, Eco friendly carry bags.

Recently, read in news that BJP, the party of ruling Indian Government has banned the use of plastic water bottles and plastic cups in their political rallies and replaced these with clay baked water pitchers, clay cups and paper cups. Such initiatives are a welcome breeze and required in big way from all –Institutions and Individuals!! Most important is to be consistent and propagate these in big way and ensure that this is really happening and not just remain a media catching propaganda.

I believe, more than the governments banning and UN giving directives, let’s start behaving like responsible global citizens taking ownership and refusing to consume or at least minimizing the use of plastics. We all have options to make right and conscious choices. Next time you visit a supermarket, just see the amount of plastic that’s in shelves for you to use, everything including fresh produce are packed in single- use plastics, think through what choices you can make to reduce your plastic garbage.

Let’s go back to basics and break out of our habits of convenience!!