Life After COVID: Need Of Eradicating Plastic

Vaccine trials have just been finished. Soon we’ll have a vaccine for COVID. The efforts of being home will finally pay off. The plans of going to the beaches, hill stations and the destinations we’ve missed out during the lockdown will be made. We would be out for a dine at our favorite places. But we’ll have to wear masks until everyone is vaccinated and hurrah we’ll be back to our normal lives. But what normal lives are we even talking about.

Lets have a look at our so called ‘normal’.

• A normal where world generates around 3.5 millions tons of plastic waste and other solid waste everyday.

• A normal where about 0.0986 billion tons of Carbon Dioxide is emitted every day around the world.

• A normal where 2 million tons of sewage and industrial waste water is dumped into water every day around the globe.

• A normal where around 22,000 tons of plastic is dumped into oceans everyday.

Lets go through some more reports and insights.

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Aren’t these reports disturbing. The upcoming normal isn’t the normal or in in fact never was a normal. The consequences of this are yet to occur. If the new normal continues over a longer time period we should surely expect more pandemics and calamities.  

But in a sense, everything is avoidable, COVID too would have been tackled early before if proper measures were taken. But here’s a chance to learn from the mistakes and make sure we don’t repeat them. We are on the verge of defeating COVID, by simply altering the way we lived. Hence in a similar way we can avoid upcoming consequences too but we need to alter the way we live. Here, we even have  enough time even to destroy the problem itself rather than facing its consequences. The plastic which has eco options could be alternated, the one with no options should be recycled, renewable sources of energy should be adopted and much more practices should be brought to our lives. 

So, In this series of blogs ‘Life After COVID’ let us discuss the ways in which we avoid these upcoming calamities by acting at individual level. In this blog we’ll discuss the best ways of eradicating plastic from our lives as plastic has been the biggest contributor to the pollution. 

Here are some reports about plastic.

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The reports clearly indicate the need of eradicating the plastic before its too late. We’ll start with an example which could clearly exhibit what even a one change or replacement  can make difference. 

The market of writing instruments in India is estimated to be around 1600-2400 million pieces a year. The above table and pie chart displays the percent shares of each product in the writing instruments. The largest share is occupied by the ball pens which are primarily made up of plastic. According to a survey only 30 refills are sold for every 100 pens which means 70 pens are thrown away immediately after the use which is a very threatening number. Every pen approximately weighs up to 22-25 gram which is totally a plastic. Except the premium pencils form the list all are instruments are made of plastic. 

Lets do a simple calculation.

•60% of 2000 million pieces = 1200 million pieces 

•Average weight of a ball point pen = 8 gram

•Plastic used for manufacturing ballpoint pens = 1200 million × 8 gram = 9.6 million ton of plastic.

A whooping 9.6 million tons of plastic just for ball point pens. We even haven’t yet calculated the plastic of mechanical pencils, gel pens and stationary and in addition to this pencils are totally made by chopping up the trees. Martin Luther once said “If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write” and this really seems working with our plastic pens.

We have just calculated the stats for the a pen itself. If its just a pen which adds about million tons of plastic, we have such hundreds of similar plastic products which are used too extensively as being part of our lifestyle. As a consumer we have the right to choose something great over somethings retarded. Here are few simple steps by virtue of which we could bring  a change in our choice of products.

1. Analyzing what we use: Analyzing the plastic products we currently use and trying to find the eco alternatives for that product is the first step in this process.

2. Thinking beyond money: Many of the eco products are available at the similar rates as of the plastic products while some differ with small margins. But it’s not only the money we spend it also about the quality we get. Eco products are surely better in durability, least harmful to the body and in the end least impactful to the environment.

3. Keeping up the good work: Analyzing the things and then opting for eco products tends to consume a bit more time than usual but it’s always worth it. It’s the good work we are doing for our environment, ourselves and the upcoming generations.

4.Eventually making it habitual and adapting it as lifestyle: It’s not only about picking up the right products but to practice it as a lifestyle. 

Here’s a list of easily available eco-products.

Let's preach and practice eco living.

Until Next Time