Ever since I was little all I have ever wanted to do was to travel. I love discovering new places, meeting new people and experiencing life-changing moments. The never-ending wanderlust in me recently compelled me to go on a trip to Delhi- The Capital of India. While I was spellbound by the lavish life, tall buildings, magnificent monuments, there was something else that caught my eye, it was India’s largest rubbish mountain, the Ghazipur Landfill. Spanning over an area of more than 40 football fields, this gigantic structure is predicted to grow taller than the Taj Mahal by the year 2020. This piqued my curiosity and I started on a journey to explore the harmful impacts of the main component of this colossal dump- Plastic.
It is a usual sight for any Indian to see their neighbourhood strewn with recently-discarded plastic cups, plastic straws, wrappers, packaging material and other detritus of our daily lives. The huge piles of plastic eventually end up contaminating the very environment that we live in. Seeing such an issue intrigued me to research that when exactly does this plastic turns into a menace for the environment. I found that the problem of plastic as a pollutant begins at the manufacturing phase itself. The byproducts produced during the manufacturing of plastic severely contaminate both air and water. Each year, 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced and 40% of that is single-use plastic that will only be used once before it’s binned. So one may ask the question, is the problem still solvable or has it already gone out of our hands?
To cope with this issue, India has laid down an ambitious intent to phase out single-use plastic by 2022. Though such bold claims are certainly encouraging and signify that people have finally started to think in the right direction, I feel that the improper implementation of such policies is a hurdle that we are yet to overcome. While the attention of media houses is often focused on the lethargic attitude of the government and irresponsible behavior of the manufacturers, the public has played an equal part in creating this ruckus. Just take a look around yourself. The tempered glass on the phone that you are holding, the cover that your phone is protected by, the metro card that is in your phone’s cover, the opticals that you are wearing, the clips that you need to tie your hair, the bottle in your bag, the pen in your pocket, the spiral books that you study from, is all plastic. Isn’t it? Isn’t this stream of plastic endless?
Why should we be so shocked about the environmental crises that we are facing today? After all, most of the things we use in everyday life include plastic! Shouldn’t we ashamed that even though we are aware of the impact of the things we use on the environment, we are not doing anything at our end?
It has become imperative now to take the call, to take the walk towards the ‘End of this Endless Plastic’. A conscious effort is required on the part of all the stakeholders involved to eliminate this menace before it is too late.