As part of an ongoing campaign to reduce waste and help build a zero-waste city and fight high pollution at all levels, a number of volunteers of a citizen collective, ‘Citizens For Clean Air’, continued their push to stop the use of disposable waste particularly plastic.
Single-use disposables
After highlighting the use of single-use disposables in eateries and encouraging the use of reusable plates and cutlery, their focus this Sunday, coinciding with Earth Day was on raising awareness among vegetable shop owners and shoppers on the adverse impact of the use plastic bags on the environment and on pollution levels.
Volunteers Nina Gupta, Kavita, Shalini Sawhney, Divya Devpriya and Ajay Nayar visited various vegetable markets across the city in Haryana, including Golf Course Subzi Mandi and Galleria Market Kisan Mandi and spoke to owners and shoppers. They encouraged shoppers to carry their own reusable bags for shopping and shop owners to stop using plastic bags. Shopkeepers were very receptive and said that they were willing to order the cloth bags.
Pollution
“Our aim is to make shoppers aware that every time they use a plastic bag they contribute to the high levels of pollution in our city and to encourage them to not leave home without a reusable bag,” said Ms. Devpriya, a key member.
Over a trillion plastic bags are used around the world each year. The average time that a plastic bag is used for is only twelve minutes. Most plastic bags are non-biodegradable and take between 15 and 1,000 years to degrade. Animals like cows and birds choke on them. “Microplastics are working their way up the food chain and ending up on our plate,” said Ms. Sawhney.
According to the volunteers of “Citizens for Clean Air”, disposable plastic is a major cause of pollution, especially in Gurugram, where improper waste disposal results in open dumping and burning of plastic releases toxic emissions causing high PM 2.5 levels.
“We urge the government to enforce the ban on plastic bags,” said Mr. Nayar, another key member of “Citizens for Clean Air”, who is also the recipient of the first Swachh award by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
