Sanctuary | Report
A plastic fork settles on a sea urchin near
the St. Vincent Island in the Caribbean. It is
estimated that eight million metric tonnes of
plastic end up in our oceans each year.Earth Day
Earth Day 2018 is being hosted by India this year. The theme is how we can tackle
plastic pollution, which ends up poisoning our aquifers, rivers, lakes and oceans.
Remember... plastics cannot be recycled, they can only be down-cycled.
Eventually such waste ends up being burned (think cancer, lung problems), or in
a landfi ll (think aquifer and air pollution).
Here are some simple ways to start your No-Plastics journey.
Avoid single-use plastic products such as straws, carry-bags, cutlery (in
planes), crockery (for picnics) and water bottle (also very toxic)
Encourage colleagues at your work space to carry their own water rather
than opt for bottled water, or even dispensed water using disposable glasses.
Do not use those awful black plastic garbage disposal bags. Make simple
liners out of old newspapers instead. Biodegradable or compostable plastic
bags have begun to make their appearance, but until you get a sure-shot
option just use paper liners.
Do not order food from quick-delivery services unless they off er
non-plastic options.
Women are cutting down on disposable sanitary products by switching to
menstrual cups and reusable cloth pads and, yes, biodegradable sanitary
pads are soon going to be the norm.
Carry a back-pack, or a sling bag, or old-fashioned cloth bag like a badge
of honour. And speak to every vendor you know and tell them why you do
not want to use plastics.
When you see branded plastic packaging littering a beach, or street, or even
a garbage heap, get creative. Use your cell phone to get close to the litter
so the brand is prominently visible and then post it on social media to name
and shame.
Write to the Chief Minister of your state and ask for a ban on single-use
plastic products and say this should be a fi rst step towards replacement of
plastics by biodegradable options, or long-serving options such as glass.Don’t worry about a slow start. Do what you can today. Once you take the fi rst
few tentative steps... you will fi nd your way through the fog of options and will
soon become the ‘go-to’ person for others who will, we promise you, want to
follow your lead.Terns and more skuas, fl oating by on
more pieces of garbage. Also swarming
by the boat were empty packets of
milk and plastic refuse, as far as 17 km.
into the sea. I imagined someone in
Mangalore or Mumbai had had their fi ll
of milk in tea and had fl ung the packet
into a ‘ganda nala’. From there, it was
regurgitated into the sea.
“Marine debris is a far larger
problem than most of us imagine it to
be. In the years I have spent working
along India’s west coast, I’ve seen trash
of all imaginable kinds on seashores
and far out into sea – glass bottles,
plastic bottles, footwear, toys, tube
lights, sanitary pads, plastic packaging,
biomedical waste and plastic bags. Milk
packets seem to outnumber any other
kind of trash,” says marine biologist
Abhishek Jamalabad.REAP WHAT YOU SOW
We think we are getting rid of our
trash – and thus our problems – by
throwing them into sewage pipes
and garbage dumps. Actually, that
is the surest sign we will re-inherit
our problems. Surveys have proved
that we are literally eating plastic –
by consuming fi sh and seafood that
inadvertently ingest plastic debris. Last
year’s cyclone Ockhi, coming in from
the sea, deposited a reported 80,000
kg. of trash on Mumbai’s coast. In
other words, the storm gave Mumbai
what Mumbai had been ‘gifting’
the sea.
A global movement to prevent
plastic microbeads from ‘going to sea’
has led to many consumers rejecting
face washes and cosmetic products
that contain microbeads. France and
the Indian state of Maharashtra have
recently banned plastic cups, plates
and cutlery. This year, Scotland banned
plastic ear buds. In Rwanda, you can
carry your duty-free shopping into
the country, but not the plastic bag in
which it is sold!
But when you gaze at the sea, you
realise these eff orts are too little. There
is a slow burn in this ecosystem – the
disaster of pestilential materials that may
well outlive the sea itself.KAY WILSON/INDIGO DIVE ACADEMY ST.VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES