The Plastic Monster vs. Planet Earth

Eradication of plastic is a burning issue. The Earth is struggling to breathe like a child whose head is stuck in a plastic bag. The need to boycott plastic should sink into the consciousness of every man, woman, and child. Propaganda against the use of plastic should start right from primary schools. Student communities and youth have to be motivated to organize melas and marathons to remove accumulation of plastic from public places.

Corporations and municipalities should set up booths to purchase plastic wastes at attractive prices. A million people will plunge into the task of collecting existing plastic wastes if only they are offered attractive incentives. Just pay 10 rupees per KG of waste plastic, and the drive against plastic will be a grand success. Donations with tax benefits from affluent and philanthropic people should be solicited for meeting this expenditure.

It is not enough to ban the manufacture and use of only plastic carry bags; the ban should be extended to its use for packing endless varieties of food and grocery items. In this area, plastic should be replaced by thick recycled papers. Unless this is done, the full benefit of abstinence from plastic will not be obtained.

The noose of plastic around our necks is fast tightening. Actually, this serious problem demands a separate Ministry. Two places which stand affected to a very great extent by the plastic menace are waterways and railways.

There is hardly a river or lake without waste plastic materials floating around. Railway tracks are littered with plastic wastes, not only in the vicinity of stations but also in remote sections where trains traverse forests and countryside.

I was always intrigued to see plastic wastes in jungles and places uninhabited by humans while traveling by trains. The other day, I stumbled into the cause of it: the people entrusted with the job of handling waste bins in trains are simply emptying them while the train is passing through jungles and the countryside. The authorities should immediately stop this practice.

Finally, the exemption granted to milk products and soft drinks should be withdrawn. The old practice of supplying milk and soft drinks in bottles has to be restored. In the U.K., an advanced nation, milk is still supplied to consumers in bottles. Our Earth is a beautiful blue planet. Let us save her from becoming a Plastic Planet.