plastic

There is value in sifting through the remains of what we discard. And each act of sifting, collecting, sorting, grading, trading is a revolution of sorts. But what does this have to do with Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR)? The moment of truth came in when my colleague Krishna, a former child waste picker and a manager of a dry waste collection Centre in Bengaluru, made a statement at one of the meetings on Inclusive EPR. “We talk about producers' responsibility and stewardship, in terms of environment and economic angle but there is a more pressing issue that needs to be…

Scenario 1: It’s Friday night, and Kiran decides to order some burger, fries, and a bottle of soft drink to go with it. He finishes drinking the beverage and puts the bottle in the recycle bag, with all his other dry waste, and places the bag out, on the day BBMP workers pick up recyclables. Scenario 2: Anita is hosting a birthday party, and she orders soft drinks, along with other snacks and beverages.. Post the party all the bottles go into the recycle bag that is placed outside her apartment door. Scenario 3: Jayamma, is a pourakarmika, in Ward…

Come June 5 and all eyes across the world will be on India, the global host of World Environment Day, 2018. A country with a recycling economy predominantly driven by informal waste-pickers, India has imposed a complete ban on plastic in several states so far, setting the stage for this year’s theme, “Beat Plastic Pollution”. In March 2016, the erstwhile Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011 were replaced by the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016, notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC). This provides a regulatory framework for management of plastic waste by urban…

Some 25 years ago, most of us knew that sound, air and water pollution were the most common forms of pollution in the world around us. Accordingly, our efforts were also directed towards reducing noise, smoke from vehicles and the like. But then some people pushed me, and I made an effort to understand the problems about which I had been ignorant. And I learnt that our land may also get polluted. Just as plastic, thermocol etc can pollute our water and air, land too could be directly or indirectly polluted by their use, affecting our food chain as well.…

Every time I visited the Wazirabad Bundh site to watch a lush linear forest taking shape in the middle of our city, the dirty storm water drain would bother me no end. iamgurgaon – a citizens’ movement focused on improving every aspect of life in the Millennium City – had been working on the bundh for a year and a half and it was clear that the work would remain incomplete if this drain full of debris and plastic was not cleared. The drain was such an eye sore that I decided to seek permission to clean the 200 metres…

“I would always get into fights with my mother, about having separate bins for waste segregation, switching off lights and all those things.” Prateek Agarwal has been passionate about the environment for as long as he can remember. That passion has manifested itself in his current venture. Together with Subham Agarwala and Siddhant Khetan, Prateek co-founded “Green Strips,” an initiative which aims to replace plastic bags with paper bags, subsidised through advertisements placed on the latter. The twenty-year old likes designing and travelling, and pines for the Delhi food he left behind when he went to study in Kolkata. But…

I bought some gulab jamuns at Shanti Sagar in Jayangar 4th T Block today, and I got a bag that says this: Truegreen 'biodegradable' plastic. Pic: Deepa Mohan Are such bags truly not made of plastic, and completely biodegradable? I googled for the website, here. The company name is Greendiamz Biotech Ltd., and they list, amongst their products..."Garbage Bags Roll, Flower Pot, Dog Poop Bag". However, I am not able to learn what the raw material is, and how it is biodegradable. Their "manufacturing process" page is...blank! So I am still left wondering if this, or is not, a plastic…

I conducted the Campus Bird Count at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, on two days, Saturday, 13th Feb, and Sunday, 14th Feb 2016. I had already mentioned that as birders and naturalists, our team would be carrying their own water bottles, and that IIMB should only provide for filling up the bottles and not set out PET bottles of mineral water. After the count on the morning of the 13th, IIM-B hosted our birding team for breakfast. I noted the small mineral water PET bottles at each place setting and requested the Dean of Administration, Dr G Shainesh, not…

On April 24th, 40 children from the Sarjapur road area, along with volunteers from Kasa Mukta Bellandur (KMB), took to the streets to educate eatery joint owners about the hazards of serving food in disposable plates, encouraging them to adopt eco-friendly alternatives instead.  Pic: SujathaPic: SujathaPic: Sujatha‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');}); Everyone is aware about the impact of the usage of plastic and the kind of imbalance it is causes. Indeed, pollution of the environment by chemicals leached from plastics into air and water is an emerging area of concern. The convenience of using plastics and disposable items…

When trash seems to be strewn everywhere in our public spaces, it was heartening to see this sight at the Bannerghatta Zoo. Long may such initiatives last! Zoo, 18th January, 2015.