Reduce, reuse, and recycle

Over the next three decades, it is anticipated that plastic production will more than double. Over 99 percent of plastic is derived from fossil fuels. Furthermore, according to some research, the amount of plastic pollution in the oceans is expected to triple over the next ten years, putting our consumption of plastic on a collision path with the sustainability of our existence on this planet. Most plastic is produced to be used just once before being thrown away, which causes pollution, burdens our communities and ecosystems, and overwhelms systems intended to handle garbage. This is what is causing the catastrophe.

The "three Rs" — reduce, reuse, and recycle — have long been our guiding principles. It may seem as though every bottle or piece of plastic packaging we throw into one of the many blue recycling bins is recycled and used to make something new. However, that is far from the truth. India produces roughly 3.5 million tonnes of plastic garbage annually, and over the past five years, the amount of plastic waste produced per person has nearly doubled. Only a tiny portion of the plastic that we put in those bins is really recycled.

Instead of the "three Rs," the "three Bs"—burned, buried, and borne out to sea—are more accurately described when it comes to plastics. Most of our plastic either ends up in landfills and other natural areas or is burned, which pollutes the air with carbon dioxide. This process causes climate chaos and discharges harmful pollution that adversely affects the nearby communities. Without kicking our plastic addiction, we cannot address environmental justice or the climate change crisis.

Plastic pollution is an issue for human health, not only because of the unsightly single-use plastics that wash up on our beaches. But also, from the air we breathe to the water we drink to the food we cultivate and consume; plastics are damaging our bodies. People worldwide could be ingesting five grams of microscopic plastic particles every week, equivalent in weight to a credit card, which are loaded with harmful substances including endocrine disruptors and carcinogens that are thought to be altering human reproductive biology. Like so many of the problems we face today, plastic pollution is also a social justice catastrophe.

As a result, we must take immediate, bold, and decisive action to address this problem. By collecting litter using JATAYU machines , we aim to influence India's approach to plastics and set the country on the transformative course we need to take so as to fully solve this problem. It encourages large corporations to take responsibility for the pollution that their plastics cause by building and sponsoring garbage and recycling systems and placing the burden of cleaning on producers rather than consumers.

Editorial Team

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