Partying amid plastics


How did this all start? This fight I am having with one-time use plastics?
I have been guilty too, of being proud to be using disposable plastics. Videos of animals in the oceans suffering due to ingestion of plastics started circulating in the media. Well, plastics have  already gotten into the very salt that we eat. What could be more alarming?
And still people go on partying with plastic plates, even if they can afford a slightly more expensive ecofriendly solutions. Corn plates, bowls, glasses and spoons are found in plenty in your neighbourhood supermarket. Go find them or they'll come back to haunt our own children. It doesn't take much. We cannot eliminate plastics totally but can definitely reduce and recycle. 

 A domestic worker once laughed at my friend for reusing a disposable spoon. That's the kind of ignorance that still exists in the world.
When I post messages on the environment, I am lucky to get even a single like or a comment, as against when I post pictures of myself! Why? Because people want to live in their own ivory tower and not wake up to the plastic-reality (hahah) that is surrounding them! We can't all become saviours of the earth but we can certainly do our bit! 

Good - minimum plastic


Bad - full of plastic packaging 


Beautiful - just let me ripen naturally!

So what did you do Priya?
Oh thanks, I thought you'd never ask - 
1) Accumulated an army of cloth bags that I take for my grocery.
2) I stopped buying 2 litre plastic cans of milk and switched to the 1 litre ones since they come in tetra packs.
3) My very nice helper agreed to segregating my wastes and all the recyclables go to a separate bin which goes down to the condo recycling bins. 
4) A fast fashion brand asked me to contribute $2 for charity , upon which they gifted me with...guess what? Bottled water. I started my lecture on why they should not be doing this and the cashier actually said he will let his people know.
5) I request cafes for reusable mugs and cutlery. They many times do comply, but not always, which is fine for the time being, you cannot eliminate plastics at one go, though it is high time we did. 
6) Buy stuff with less plastic packaging in your supermarkets.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How clean was my lake, my Kukkanahalli Lake...

Image
Shyamala Aunty's house was very close to the Kukkanahalli Lake. Some beautiful vistas unfolded from the backside of the Lake too, especially views of the sunset. It was not uncommon to see lovers holding hands all along the Lake's grass.  This was during my childhood. Birds roosted without a care on the low branches dipping into the placid waters. All this was a part of the languorous life that we Mysoreans typically lived, in our simple world of Brindavan Gardens and the Mysore Palace.  But oh! Time passed, the greed of mankind started to eat up the clean air, muddy up the rivers, so how could my Lake be left behind? Last year, during our visit to my dear parents' home, my hubby and I decided to spend the mornings walking around the Kukkanahalli Lake. The water had reduced, silt was choking it, the cormorants, storks and ibises still nested, perhaps sensing that all good things would come to an end?  Weep not, Oh lonely bird... Around the lake in the mi
Read more

Why are we buying so much?

Just read a story about a disciple asking the Buddha for a new bedsheet. Upon being asked, he said he used the old sheet to make window curtains, the curtains to make napkins, the napkins were used to make mops, the mops being in tatters were used to make wicks for oil-lamps! Whew! That was actually a trip down memory lane. Why? Our older generation actually has used old saris to make curtains. I have made Indian dresses out of old saris too. We have seen our elders buying vegetables using cloth bags sewn from old clothes. Now why have we become so obsessed with showing off our buying capabilities ? I wonder if we were better off with less spending power just a few decades ago.  There was no need to shout out to our elders to use less plastic, because they anyway did.  Plastic tiffin boxes have replaced the old steel and brass-lined lunch-boxes.  We never had to worry about plastics or colours leeching into our foods. Plastic disposables have replaced the beautiful plates and bo
Read more