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Moneylife » Life » Public Interest » Shun plastics! Bring back the reusable and recycled cotton or jute bags

Shun plastics! Bring back the reusable and recycled cotton or jute bags

AK Ramdas | 11/08/2012 02:24 PM | 

Shun the plastic bag and carry a reusable cotton/jute bag when going shopping! If each one of us can spare a few minutes, we can make the earth a better place to live


Although India is reeling under the depressive conditions of the poor monsoons with most areas having received inadequate rainfall, customary preparations are underway to celebrate the Diwali festival a few months from now.
 
As a general rule, Indians are resilient enough to overcome the setbacks and are born optimists who always look forward to a better tomorrow than today. Somehow, things will change for the better, is their ‘gut’ feeling all the time.
 
They are quick to realize their own mistakes but not courageous enough to openly admit their faults. And most manage to not repeat their mistakes. Yet, they are quick to find fault with others, a trait that runs deep in their system, but, again, they would not like to admit it in their own selves!
 
Often, they are exposed to attend meetings, seminars and workshops or conferences that cover the need to protect the Environment. They hear about how each one can really make a contribution to preserving the environment and saving the earth from untold havoc that plastics can and cause, by careless disposal methods.
 
It is not about the plastic cards that they carry in their wallets that cause real trouble and havoc in their finances but the bags that they get when they go for shopping, whether it is to buy a kilo of onions or a few home required items of grocery! Soon after they reach home, these plastic bags land in the garbage cans, which, ultimately are dumped here, there and everywhere!
 
Though the death toll would vary from city to city, it is the stray cattle that become victims when they munch through the garbage and get choked. In many places these dumps are also hunting ground for stray dogs and street scavengers who go through the rubbish to collect recyclable waste.
 
Unlike the westerners, whom we ape in more ways than one, we have not yet learnt the real civic responsibility is disposing the rubbish we generate every day at home in terms of segregating the usable and the unusable waste.
 
For instance, most the wet waste, such as the vegetable peels, stems, leaves, etc can be converted into organic manure to start small kitchen gardens and make the earth a better place to live in. After all, more greenery will automatically invite nature's reaction by greater rainfall than we have today. Every city can be a garden city!
 
We started this issue with Diwali, didn’t we? Yes, most business houses have either placed or in the process of placing orders for their Diwali gift boxes that would carry a variety of sweets, dry fruits and so on. Sometimes, these gift boxes will themselves be recycled and one may pass on the incoming gift to another. After all, what can one do when he/she receives so many gift boxes from well wishers?
 
Of course, these colourful expensive cardboard boxes, gift wraps, plastic boxes and trays will eventually find their way to the garbage piles, only to be collected by poor scavengers for recycling.
 
What is the simple step that we can take?  Shun the plastic bag and carry a reusable cotton/jute bag when going shopping!
 
As for the business houses, here is a clarion call—why not make this year, the year of the cotton gift bag and make it an annual issue? Cotton bags, carrying your advertisements will be used over and over again, and remain handy and useful for years to come.
 
(AK Ramdas has worked with the Engineering Export Promotion Council of the ministry of commerce and was associated with various committees of the Council. His international career took him to places like Beirut, Kuwait and Dubai at a time when these were small trading outposts; and later to the US. He can be contacted at anantha_ramdas@yahoo.com.)

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1 Comment
anantha ramdas

anantha ramdas 11 months ago

There is one other issue relating to this plastic bags that we all need to remember.

If one does not carry a cotton or jute bag when going for a shopping, they are penalized by the shop keeper. Yes, Reliance Fresh, Hopcoms and many others simply charge Rs 2 for a recyclable 40 micron thickness plastic bags!

Not only you pay for the mistake of not carrying your bag, but unwittingly act as the walking Advertisement Lamp post with the printed advertisement materials of the shop concerned!

And what is the actual cost of these bags? Not more than 25 paise a piece! The government has not thought it fit to put a
MRP for these bags!

Citizens are fleeced everywhere.

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