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“The act or process of polluting or the state of being polluted, especially the contamination of soil, water, or the atmosphere by the discharge of harmful substances. ” As we become more technologically advanced, we produce materials that can withstand extreme temperatures, are durable and easy to use. Plastic bags, synthetics, plastic bottles, tin cans, and computer hardware these are some of the things that make life easy for us. But what we forget is that these advanced products do not break down naturally.
Plastic bags are fisticuff and costly to recycle and most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade. They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them. But the problems surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before they photo degrade. When we dispose them in a garbage pile, the air, moisture, climate, or soil cannot break them down naturally to be dissolved with the surrounding land. Our planet is becoming increasingly contaminated by our unnecessary use of plastic carry bags.
Big lack bin liners, plastic carrier bags carrying advertising logos, clear sandwich bags, vegetable bags and a variety of other forms used to carry our daily food items and other items are all polluting our environment. Just take a look around you. Plastic bags can be seen hanging from the branches of trees, flying in the air on windy days, settled amongst bushes and floating on rivers. They clog up gutters and drains causing water and sewage to overflow and become the breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that cause diseases. Deadly Facts A plastic milk jug takes 1 million years to decompose.
The road outside our house is littered with flimsy multi-colored plastic bags. The wind blows these bags into the open gutter. The bags collect and block the gutter which then spills on to the road. Mosquitoes thrive in the Stagnant Water. Pigs and rats wallow in the slime, carrying disease. The place stinks and the air is polluted. Animals and sea creatures are hurt and killed every day by discarded plastic bags. Plastic clogs their intestines and leads to slow starvation. Others become entangled in plastic bags and drown.
Because plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down, every year our seas become ‘home’ to more and more bags that find their way there through our sewers and waterways. Given Indian’s poor airbag collection facilities, tons of plastic bags litter the roads, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground. Hundreds of cows die in New Delhi alone every year when they choke on plastic bags while trying to eat vegetable waste stuffed in the garbage. Do we see the proposed ban as a necessary measure?
Despite our desire to see a clean environment and have a clean road wonder what will we do without all the plastic things in our lives? The many uses of disposable plastic that we use everyday comes to mind, gloves, pens, cups, bottles, cans 0 can we really do without these? Do we see the proposed ban as a necessary measure? Each year, as industry produces more and more non-essential products individually and excessively packaged in plastic, we throw away more and more trash. Plastic razors can only be used a few times before disposal, then more must be bought, making the plastic and razor industries rich and happy.
Pens used to be filled with ink, today we use them, throw them away and go out and buy another one. The pen industries make a lot of money too. Many household appliances are designed to become obsolete within a short duration and that guarantees that you’ll just have to buy new ones next year. To a large extent, our garbage robber is a result of a corporate business ethic that puts profits before people and the environment. Industry pushes the advantages of “disability” to the public because it suits them and it pays well.
The profit from disability goes into the pockets of only a few but the hazards of disability are faced by many more. The proposed ban makes us realize that each one of us should develop a sense of responsibility not just towards the litter on our roads but also towards the things we buy and use and throw away. Government initiates plastic surgery The state cabinet has decided to issues an ordinance to ban plastic thinner Han 50 microns and less than 8 inches by 12 inches in size. The ban will be state wide.
The Maharajah’s state non biodegradable Garbage Control Ordinance recommends stringent punishment for violation of the ban. Once the ordinance is issued it will be mandatory for the manufacturers to mention the thickness and quality of the plastic, name and address of the manufacturer and the registration numbers issued by the Maharajah’s Pollution Control Board. Recycled plastic will not be allowed. For effective management and disposal of non biodegradable wastes, a system of collection and segregation will be introduced first in the municipal reparation limits of the state.