Reduce, reuse, recycle plastic

SEVERAL years ago, while shopping for clothes, my husband remarked angrily, ‘This cloth is made of plastic!’ I was aghast at this mention of plastic and afraid that he had offended the shopkeeper. Little did I realise that other than cotton and silk, most of the clothes in the market were polyester, nylon, acrylic, etc. and were indeed made of plastic! Polyester clothes have flooded the market as ‘wash and wear’ material that decreases the need to iron them, notwithstanding the toxins emitting from them which get absorbed by the skin and cause nausea, headache and loss of sleep.

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People are constantly ingesting nano particles of plastics through food and water as well as inhaling them from car exhaust, which pollutes the environment. A report stating that microplastics were found in the placenta of newborn infants shook me. Children get susceptible to plastic much before birth due to ingestion of microplastics by mothers during pregnancy. This leads to an increased threat of premature birth, stillbirth, impaired organ development, neurological deficiencies and childhood cancers. They also get exposed to microplastic particles through house dust as well while crawling or playing on the floor. It is also believed that breast milk and infant formula may have microplastics.

Plastic is lightweight, hygienic, flexible, adaptable and long-lasting, particularly for packaging applications. But the flip side is that much of this plastic ends up on the sea floor or suspended deep in the water columns, killing millions of birds, fish and other marine organisms every year. Cows are killed by the ingestion of plastic bags, which they mistake for food.

A plastic-free world is inconceivable. Without plastics, there would be an increase in food waste. Almost all kinds of plastics are made from fossil fuels, utilising 4-8 per cent of the world’s oil. In another 25 years, the production of plastic will increase by two-and-a-half times.

In an environment-friendly initiative, Dr Rajagopalan Vasudevan, the ‘Plastic Man of India’, developed roads using plastic waste. India has built around 33,700 km of such roads, including about 703 km of national highways. This technology was replicated by Australia, Indonesia, the UK and the US.

A ban on plastic usage exists in around 100 countries globally, including India. However, the implementation is generally poor. Single-use plastic products such as drinking straws, packaged water bottles, containers, etc. should be avoided and replaced by available alternatives. The manufacturing of plastic bags for routine use should be prohibited and the use of cloth or jute bags for shopping should be made mandatory. Reusing or recycling of waste plasticware should also be encouraged. Last year, UN member states agreed to start negotiating a global treaty to curb plastic pollution. One hopes this initiative will eventually make a difference on the ground.