Plastic Free July is a global movement to raise awareness about plastic pollution and urge people to take action against it. We bring to you a series of real-life changes that are taking place at the grassroots. Read on for the first one!
It is so easy to gather bad habits and really hard to acquire good ones. But that is how we change our behavior for the better. In the context of littering of single-use plastic, our habits leave a lot to be desired.
That is simply because all this plastic is so readily available and easy to throw away. I applaud SDC Foundation’s initiative of setting up a plastic bank at the General Post Office building in Dehradun in the month of June. The trash bin set up in the canteen is emptied by SDC Foundation and taken away to their plastic centre for segregation. I am also glad I was a part of the exercise, recently having been transferred to the RMS Division.
Many of our postmen, when they come in the morning, get plastic from their homes and put it in the trash bins. This is how behaviour change takes place. But yes, like I said, this is not an easy road to take. More awareness is needed when it comes to plastic pollution. But it is heartening to see some changes happen.
Imagine all that plastic out on the streets! In this rainy season, plastic block all the drains and waterlogging takes place everywhere, making things worse.
I belong to Uttarakhand and I can see how this curse of plastic pollution is impacting our once-beautiful state. Few things have harmed Uttarakhand like plastic pollution. Look at all our holy sites in Uttarakhand, be it the holy shrines of Char Dham, or Tungnath, Chopta, Nanda Devi Raj Jaat -- there is plastic everywhere.
Then there are the malls, restaurants, shops, which generate so much plastic. If only plastic banks are set up everywhere and all the plastic collected, segregated, and recycled.
Until big change happens at the policy level and plastic packaging is minimised by companies that use them, we need to dispose it responsibly.
Author is Superintendent RMS Division, Dehradun.
