Monday, February 07, 2011

Litter - they are no good until you reduce their usage!

Plastics... these interlinked molecules have explored places which even normal man would not. We can achieve that inch-by-inch coverage of land as plastics do, but require exhaustive patience. Travelling by rail in India will give you an insight on how plastics has influenced our daily lives. More than that it throws light on the amount of litter we generate due to sheer ignorance.

Intercity train from Bangalore starts early morning and does one round-trip to Coimbatore in a day. Approximately it travels 400 kms, carrying more than 1000 people. This generates say litter of 1000 paper plate equivalent in a day. In the same line we have some more than two dozen trips every day. 24*1000 ~ 25k paper plates. Considering 10cm radius plates, it will take the plates to cover the entire stretch of surface area in three years.

Though paper degrades compared to plastics, it takes years. Also the paper plates have typical coating which again makes it non-degradable. So much of litter, and so much ignorant we are that we might one day be consumed by floods. Poor water, if we do not leave it drain fast into the earth, where will that go?

Reuse, reduce and recycle (we must first discard properly, segregate and then recycle!!!)
This herculean task can be accomplished only by the power of our minds and not just by yet another govt. policy

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