Leaderspeak | Plastic & Cities
Cities finding ways to become plastic-free With consumption patterns changing, the use of single-use plastic has increased manifold in the last few decades. Now cities are realizing the significance of going plastic-free, it is necessary to provide sustainable alternatives locally and create an enabling environment for businesses and consumers to shun plastic forever
T
he ‘disposable’ lifestyle of citizens is damaging the urban environment and also oceans. In dayto-day urban life, citizens generate mountains of waste by using disposable plastic items such as plastic bags, packaging material, wrappers, toothbrushes, and plastic disposable cutlery items. A majority of these items are strewn on our streets or land up in dumping sites of municipalities. A tiny amount of such waste is segregated and recycled. Hence, most plastic waste gets accumulated on our streets, water bodies, or dumping sites. It takes centuries for plastic to degrade. In India, the plastic industry began in the later part of the 1950s, but it took almost thirty years to reach the masses. However, the sheer size of the plastic waste problem could be understood because the first plastic bag that ever came to use in the country would not have degraded if not recycled or reused. Today, India is generating approximately 26,000 tonnes of plastic
waste (TPD) every day. This is likely to grow at 10 per cent. Moreover, as India is on the path to becoming a $5 trillion economy, it will surely drive consumption. Hence, the growth rate could be even higher. Therefore, it is required that governments and technology companies must come out with a foolproof strategy to handle the massive burden of plastic waste. The recent pandemic also drove up the demand for disposable masks advised by governments and medical experts to be used once or, at most, a couple of times. India traditionally does not dispose of things until citizens have utilized the products to the fullest. India was among the first nations which started using traditional clothes like ‘gamcha’ or cotton towels as masks. Though the medical effectiveness of such products could not be verified at that time, Indian citizens have a mentality to reuse things, and not opt for disposable items. Thousands of small and big manufacturing units came up and started making masks almost instantly. We have seen many countries
facing the difficulty of shortages of masks during that period. According to a research study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to generate up to 7200 tons of medical waste every day, much of which is disposable masks. Facemasks and protective gears used by medical professionals have also become essential for saving lives and containing the spread of the deadly virus. In other parts of the world, governments have started promoting reusable masks because it is well-known that usage of masks may continue even after the COVID threat is over. Some countries have even developed technology to make reusable masks made of silicone rubber and an N95 filter. The filter can be either discarded or sterilized after use. Such technological interventions and innovation for making sure that less and less waste is generated is a way to go for a sustainable future, particularly for urban areas.
Shun plastic
There are many small yet significant initiatives that individuals can take at their level to reduce the use of plastic. First, citizens must ditch plastic bottles for reusable metal or glass bottles. Packaged drinking water bottles are a strict no. Data suggests that one single person can save approximately 1400 bottles from going to landfill sites. It is also concerning that most single-use plastic items, including water bottles, do not land up in landfill sites or recycling centres. Instead, they enter our water bodies, are eaten up by animals, or remain lying in our vicinity. According
30 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in
