Supreme Court Justice and National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) Executive Chairman Uday Umesh Lalit has called upon all stakeholders to come up with new ideas to end the plastic menace, which he said was putting tremendous burden on the earth and posing a threat to future generations.
Justice Lalit was speaking at a NALSA New Module Programme on ‘Say No to Plastics’, ‘Save Environment’ and ‘Issues relating to unorganised labour’ at a programme organised under the aegis of NALSA at Andhra University Convention Centre, on Beach Road on Thursday.
Justice Lalit expressed concern over the unchecked proliferation of single-use plastic. “Around 40% of plastics, used in everyday life, are single-use plastics. The tremendous load of non-biodegradable plastic material causes immense damage to the earth, and the lives of future generations will be at risk if we fail to act now,” he cautioned.
Speaking about the 3-R principle of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, Justice Lalit said that he would like to come up with a ‘fourth R’, namely ‘Refuse’. “When the 3-R principle is not possible to implement, we should use the fourth R, which is refusing to accept a plastic bag, a plastic cover and the like,” he said, calling upon all stakeholders to come up with new ideas to solve the problem.
Justice Lalit stated that it is our responsibility to hand over the planet to our children in a better condition than what we inherited.
“The ban on single-use plastic would come into force from July 1. Manufacturers have been given sufficient time and the onus is on the producers to recycle the plastic. Use paper, jute and other eco-friendly products wherever possible and refuse to carry plastic bags to the extent possible,” he said.
Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice P.K. Mishra said it was worrying that plastic has become ubiquitous in our daily lives in various forms.
