UnPlastic India
Youth of India FoundationSailesh Singhal
Founder, Youth of India foundation
Special accreditation by United Nations for 2020 Oceans’ Conference
Abstract
In the present era of globalization whole world is facing problem with single use plastic. Although single use plastics has many benefits but it has long term health,socio-economic and environmental impact.
Whole world is trying to formulate a comprehensive plan of action to eliminate single use of plastic and to make this world a better to live in.If one will look upon the health impact ,it has carcinogenic agent will trigger uncrolled division of ceels in human body leading to melignant cancer. It has adverse impact upon agricultural sector. It is responsible for turning many hazard into disaster such as flood-urban flooding by blocking the drinage. Hence in this article we are going to look upon various impact of plastic , measures taken by government and an alternative to it.
Keywords
Unplastic, single use plastic,khulad,khadi,jute.
Introduction
In 2018, on the occasion of World Environment Day, the theme was set as “Beat Plastic Pollution”, which was called to come together in order to combat one of the great environmental challenges of our time. Chosen by then year’s host, India, the theme of World Environment Day 2018 called for making changes in our everyday lives to reduce the heavy burden of plastic pollution on our natural places, our wildlife – and our own health. While plastic has many valuable uses, we have become over reliant on single- use or disposable plastic – with severe environmental consequences. Around the world, 1 million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India produces over 25,000 tonnes of plastic waste every day and Every year we use up to 5 trillion disposable plastic bags. In total, 50 per cent of the plastic we use is single use.
Nearly one third of the plastic packaging used escapes collection systems, which means that it ends up clogging our city streets and polluting our natural environment. Every year, up to 13 million tons of plastic leak into our oceans, where it smothers coral reefs and threatens vulnerable marine wildlife. The plastic that ends up in the oceans can circle the Earth four times in a single year, and it can persist for up to 1,000 years or more before it fully disintegrates. Plastic also makes its way into our water supply – and thus into our bodies. What harm does that cause? Scientists still aren’t sure, but plastics contain a number of chemicals, many of which are toxic or disrupt hormones. Plastics can also serve as a magnet for other pollutants, including dioxins, metals and pesticides. A recent study estimates that the world has produced about 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastics between 1950 and 2015 — 80 per cent of this is plastic waste. A meagre 9 per cent of this waste has been recycled.
The pandemic has been a hurdle in India’s campaign to phase out single-use plastic.The coronavirus pandemic has brought back demand for use-and-throw plastic items. State and district-level authorities, as well as volunteer organisations involved in relief work and conducting food drives, have been using plastic bags to distribute food and other materials to migrant labourers, daily wage workers and to those in red zones, confined in their homes.
Rationale/Purpose of the study
The main purpose of the study is to highlight the impact caused by plastic and how we could unplastic India.The millions of tons of plastic swirling around the world’s oceans and plastics hovering the animals and mammals have garnered a lot of media attention recently. But plastic pollution arguably poses a bigger threat to the plants and animals – including humans – who are based on land. Very little of the plastic we discard every day is recycled or incinerated in waste-to-energy facilities. Much of it ends up in landfills, where it may take up to 1,000 years to decompose, leaching potentially toxic substances into the soil and water. Researchers in Germany are warning that the impact of microplastics in soils, sediments and freshwater could have a long-term negative effect on such ecosystems. They say terrestrialmicroplastic pollution is much higher than marine microplastic pollution – estimated at four to 23 times higher, depending on the environment. The researchers conclude that, although little research has been carried out in this area, the results to date are concerning: fragments of plastic are present practically all over the world and can trigger many kinds of adverse effects. The study estimates that one third of all plastic waste ends up in soils or freshwater. Most of this plastic disintegrates into particles smaller than five millimeters, known as microplastics, and these break down further into nanoparticles (less than 0.1 micrometer in size). The problem is that these particles are entering the food chain. A study commissioned by the environmental charity WWF International mentioned that humans ingest five grams of plastic a week, the equivalent of eating a credit card. The average person could be consuming 1,769 particles of plastic every week from water alone, the report said.
Measures taken by Government of India and various other stake-holder across the world.
On June 5, 2018 Prime Minister of India vows that India will abolish all single-use plastic by 2022. Further, strengthening the resolve on September 12, 2019 during the 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Hon. Prime Minister of India NarendraModi remarked, “I believe that the time has come for even the world to say good-bye to single-use plastic and My country is going to ban single-use plastic in the coming years” and urged the world to join India to end single-use plastic.
The government has set an ambitious target of eliminating single-use plastics by 2022.
Single-use plastics or disposable plastics, are commonly used for packaging. Nearly half of the plastics produced in India are single use plastics.
Prime Minister NarendraModi in 2019 called for an end to using single-use plastics. The government has set an ambitious target of eliminating single-use plastics by 2022.
Since then, the Centre as well as various State governments have announced measures to curb its use.
Several states in India have already banned single-use plastics. But such measures are proving to be ineffective.
Observation
I had seen from my own eyes; cows and other animals consuming plastic from the ornamented dumping ground in Siliguri. Further, earlier this year a whale had been found dead with about 90 pounds of plastic inside its body and lately a report by CNN suggests that an average human ingest about 5 grams of plastic and 2,000 microplastic particles every week. All of these tormented deep inside me. Thus, as an individual I wanted to initiate a campaign regarding elimination
of the plastic as we did in 2016 by distributing 100,001 Sacred Basil plants within 7 days in Siliguri, West Bengal with the message of ‘Share One, Plant One.’ Inspired by the place that I come from – culturally rich and aesthetically beautiful; we initiated the campaign UnPlasticSiliguri and UnPlastic India by the youth, with the youth and for the community; as an urgent need to create an awareness about the harmful side-effects of single-use plastic and ultimately using the various alternatives to single-use plastic.
On 5th June, 2019 UnPlastic India was launched by hosting the first-ever UnPlasticPloggers Run in support of United Nations Environment Program in Siliguri towards making UnPlasticSiliguri. More than 500 young girls and boys came down in the streets in collecting plastic trash also contributing to Swachh Bharat Mission and sharing the message of leading a UnPlastic life. As we moved ahead, I realised that plastic had been one of the finest innovations of the century and the dependency on plastic has been more than ever. We can’t fight plastic without giving the alternative solutions to the plastic. Further ahead, as nature is the fountain source; the epicentre of human civilisation – we went back to the nature in exploring the nature based solutions.
Alternative to plastic
Today, with partnerships with various institutions and organisations, we have formed various clusters in order to curate Nature Based Solutions through bi-partisan and with marginalised young women and men, rebuilding sustainable development
– Kulhad: cutleries made out of mud and clay, which gets decomposed back in the earth after its usage
– Coconut Shells Water glass: glasses made out of shells of the used coconuts – Plantable Conference Folders, Pens, Pads: These have seeds inside them, which can be planted after its usage.
– Khadi or jute bags: Khadi clothes and jute bags providing alternatives to synthetic clothes & plastic, strengthening our resolve to localizing Sustainable Development
These sustainable products not only localise the SDGs leading to Decade of Action but also provides employment to the marginalised communities.
Impact of plastic
In a simpler language, when we throw something like paper, food peels, leaves etc there are small tiny creatures in nature – the bacteria – who eat these things up or turn them into useful products that nature loves. Plastic is harmful because it is ‘Non-Biodegradable’ When thrown on land it makes the soil less fertile. When thrown in water it chokes our ponds, rivers and oceans and harms the sea life. If animals eat plastic, it gets stuck in their tummy and makes them sick. If humans eat vegetables from the soil where plastic was thrown, it has evidences of various cancerous body in the human bodies. Why? because the bacteria in their stomach cannot break the plastic up into smaller pieces. At the rate at which plastic is accumulating in the oceans of the planet, it’s predicted that, by 2050, the mass of plastic in the world’s oceans will exceed the mass of all the fish that live there.
I am of the belief that we are confused by the terms, “break down” versus “biodegradable” (or “compostable”). When plastics are broken down, this simply means one large piece of plastic is reduced into a bunch of smaller pieces of plastic; into micro plastics. These smaller pieces of plastic can be infused in the soil and fishes and you are actually eating plastic, when you are eating the delicious MaccherJhol next time.
As we don’t know which plastic is biodegradable, plastics survive even the harshest conditions, such as floating around in a marine environment under blistering, unrelenting sunshine or frozen into Arctic ice for years before finally floating away and landing on some faraway shore. Thus, plastic survive for centuries. You never know the plastic you used now could still be discovered by your next 8 generations, for this reason, plastics will probably outlast humanity itself. Today, about 6.3bn tonnes of plastic globally has been discarded into the environment, most of which will not break down for at least
450 years. Half of the world’s plastic was created in the past 13 years and about half of that is thought to be for products used once and thrown away, such as bags, cups or straws.
It is remarkable that the people in vedictimes regarded nature and the environment in a holistic manner and revered each of its constituents and entities by carefully preserving them. ‘’Do not harm the environment, do not harm the water and the flora, earth is my mother, I am her son, may the waters remain fresh, do not harm the waters. Tranquillity be to the atmosphere, to the waters, to the crops and vegetation.
“mātābhūmihputruahanpṛthivyā:’’ This vedicprayer invokes divine intervention to bliss and protect the environment, addresses Earth and Nature as Mother and drawing a relationship of motherhood and divinity for Earth & Nature as that of a Mother & Child, reflecting our deep commitment to SDG 13 which is rightly imbibed within our culture.
To protect environment the Rig Veda, 1/90 mentions:
“madhuvātāḥṛitāyatemadhukṣarantisindhavaḥmādvihnaḥsantuṣadhi. madhunaktamutusāsu madhumatpārthiva rajah madhukṣorastusuryahmādhirgābobhavantunaḥ’’
(Environment provides bliss to people leading their life perfectly. Rivers bliss us with sacred water and provide us health, night, morning, vegetation. Sun bliss us with peaceful life. Our cows provide us milk).
The plant ecology has a great importance to keep the environment in balance. The Rig–vedicpeople exploited nature in a very judicious way, making full use of the Indian psyche, the compared trees to human beings, Gods etc.
Conclusion
From the ancient culture, nature based solutions and newer technology, UnPlastic India is working holistically in both bottom-up and top-down approach. As solutions to single-use plastic; we now have teams making water bottles from bamboo; making stationery from the used papers; making carry bags with the old clothes, which further provides employment to local women; making grocery stores aware to do packaging in the banana leaves; making national and international governments and agencies to use copper bottles and Matir Glasses. We are also making cutlery from the bamboo. As a son of North Bengal myself, we wish to make sure that North Bengal leads the nature based solutions to single-use plastic for across the globe. At the grassroot level, 150 institutions including colleges, schools, hotels, cafes, shops, offices, companies have pledged to incrementally eliminate single-use plastic; 1 dairy farm from Siliguri – Godhuli has successfully led the alternative for delivering milk in glass bottle than packaging in plastic; 50 Non-Governmental Organisationshave pledged to co-lead the movement. At the policy level, we suggested the Chief Minister of Sikkim in leading UnPlastic India; shared our suggestions with Hon’ble Prime Minister of India that Lower House (LokSabha) Speaker in making the India’s Parliament – UnPlastic incrementally by suggesting the alternatives and made some Member of Parliaments to advocate about UnPlastic. I was invited as one of the young people from across the globe as Green Ticket for the first-ever Youth Climate Action Summit in New York by United Nations and we urged and made a clarion call to use Khullads as alternatives to single-use plastic glass. While gifting one Kullhad to H.E. Secretary General of United Nations, some national and international media echoed it as ‘Glass of the century.’ We made more than 10 Head of States to pledge in becoming UnPlastic and call for September 17 as Global UnPlastic Day.
Inspired by Hon. Prime Minister of India, Last year, during my deliberations in United Nations with Head of States, Ambassadors during the side events of UN General Assembly and then at Oceans Conference, we called for a Global UnPlastic Day on September 17 as a day to celebrate and commemorate the collective actions being taken to UnPlastic the Earth. While, I believe that every day is an UnPlastic Day and individually we should take efforts in incrementally becoming UnPlastic. However, a dedicated day will eventually create a statistical success on our UnPlastic and present us the path that would lie ahead of us. As the single-use plastic is a crosscutting challenge to all the 17 goals of SDGs, we called for September 17thas Global UnPlastic Day and celebrate 17th of every month as UnPlastic Day.
Today, more than 100,000 young people have pledged to incremenntaly reducing the consumption of single-use plastic and becoming UnPlastic by applying 3 simple ways in our daily living:
1. Pledge to not use ONE single-use plastic item, Foreg. anything a straw or plastic straw or knife, etc.
2. Carry cloth bags while we go for shopping,
3. Use cutlery made out of bamboo and clay.
To all of you who are reading it, may I request you to take a pledge as the first step in contributing to resolving Climate Action.
I, (Your Name), pledge to incrementally reduce single-use plastic and commit to using Nature Based Local Solutions. Today, we call for September 17 as Global UnPlastic Day.
Today, if 130 cr of us stop single-use plastic demand, there will be no upply. Today, We, Indians have much brighter future ahead in becoming UnPlastic compared to other countries around the world as our consumption of plastic is less than half of the global average: about 11kg a year per capita compared with 109kg in the US but that doesn’t mean we wait for the Doom’s Day. I have pledged to not use plastic straw. What have you pledged? Let us all pledge to become #UnPlasticIndia today!
Reference:
www.cseindia.org/managing plastic waste in india