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June 5th , the world around is celebrated as World Environment Day and on that the news I wake up to is that a male pilot whale gets washed up on Thai beach and up on further examination, it has been found that it swallowed over 80 plastic bags. Another picture that went viral online was that of a tiny seahorse clinging to a plastic ear-bud. These headlines are rather grim to say the least. Plastic products gets wash up daily on beaches worldwide and it’s safe to say that whatever measures have been taken are not good enough as the wastes keep accumulating rather than receding.

‘Beating Plastic Pollution’ is this year’s motto for World Environment Day. It was in 1950 that the actual plastic was invented and fast forward the date to 2015 where the countries of the world had plastic production of 448 million tons in a year alone. In India around 5.6 million tons of plastic waste is generated annually and its cities contribute 15,000 tons of it daily out of which 9,000 tons are collected and recycled of sorts while the remaining 6,000 tons usually are dumped in landfills, streets, drains and waterways in cities. There are more than 100 of ways that plastic is choking our planet to death and if nothing is done to stop its production of usage; we will have a terrifying future to face. One must think beyond bans and taxes on various single-use plastics and actually invest in cleaning up already polluted province and enforce strict policies on plastic packaging and containers.

As a responsible citizen one need not take to the streets to protest and revolt but rather do what can be done such as:

•          Reduce the use of plastic wherever possible

•          Recycle more often

•          Do not litter

•          Use plates made of paper

On this special day we see many individuals who would plant saplings and will forget about it in a week’s time but for those who believe they will take care of it at least till the same time next year where our civic responsibilities kick in, I urge you to check how the saplings were given to you. Most of the time they would have a plastic covering and many unknowingly plant this with this plastic intact. So let’s take a pledge together on this World Environment Day to BeatPlasticPollution, slowly and gradually.

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