ENVIRONMENTAL COST OF CONVENIENCE

IN my morning walks in the university campus where I am a scholar-in-residence, I initially saw piles of waste everywhere.

- ANURADHA GOYAL

It's oldest living city represented by the tallest leaders of our times; so the piles were disheartening. Media has worked overtime to convince us that the city has been cleaned, heightening my disappointment.

In the next few days, I watched sanitary workers filling their trucks with the garbage piled up on the roadside. The trucks would fill in no time, leaving leftover garbage on the streets. Constant observation made me realize that there is a limit to the amount of garbage that can be picked and processed.

One morning, I stood by the garbage being collected to see what is contributing to it. My travels around India told me that water bottles and chips packets were the biggest contributors. So, I looked for them but found them only in a small percentage. The biggest culprits were disposable cutlery, especially the plastic trays used to deliver food along with the delivery packaging. Piles of them—probably from hostels and hosted events—get added every day.