Beat plastic, stop microplastic penetration into food chain

Every year on 5 June we remember our environment, due to the environment day celebration conducted under the auspicious of the United Nations. The theme for World Environment Day 2023 is “Beat Plastic Pollution”. In India, World Environment Day 2023 will be celebrated with a focus on the Mission LiFE, which stands for Lifestyle for Environment.

- BIJU DHARMAPALAN

The concept of LiFE was introduced by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. He called for a global effort to adopt sustainable lifestyle practices, and since then, India has been mobilizing people to embrace LiFE. A sustainable lifestyle is possible only if control the plastic menace that affects our planet. Humans have polluted every part of the planet with plastic. Every year, more than 400 million tonnes of plastic are manufactured, and about half of them are for single-use-purposes. Only less than 10per cent of that is reused or recovered. Between 19 and 23 million tonnes of plastic waste end up in lakes, rivers, and the ocean. That is approximately the weight of 2,200 Eiffel Towers altogether. Plastic is one of the biggest threats to the earth. Humans of today are so addicted to plastic that we cannot think of a day without it, our life is wrapped in a thin film of plastic. From the medicines we take to food items we consume, everywhere it is plastic.

One attitude problem with humans is that we won't become serious until and unless it affects our lives. We take photographs of piles of plastic in garbage mounts or in aquatic bodies, but rarely do we take pain to remove it and dispose of proper scientific manner. For us, it’s the duty of government. We forget that ultimately it affects our and our children's health.