Friday, June 12, 2009

Stop using plastic bags

"Americans throw away almost 100 billion plastic bags every year, and only one percent to three percent are ever recycled."

I read it some where and now living here I see it, plastic is so much in use here that I hate seeing them in my home now. One day of grocery shopping will end up giving you over a ten bags, so in a month you have more than 50 bags for sure; this is for a family of 2½, guess what a stock the bigger families would have? With no proper system for recycling, I had my cabinets stuffed with them. When new to the place I use to think that the trash taker takes care of the recycling part, wao! America what an efficient system. Good that though these people are using so much plastic but they have an efficient system to recycle it. Only when the trash takers took the card board and plastic cans but left my bundle of plastic bags that I realized the damage being done. I looked on the net for the recycling thing and got to know that Macy's, Stop and shop and some other participating stores collect them and give them for reuse or recycling. For my luck five minutes walk from my home takes me to Stop and shop where I shop for grocery and this was the place that had given me most of those bags. On my next visit I looked for the can earmarked for this purpose and there was one white trash can with just a few bags dumped into it. The ease with which people get them same should be the way of recycling. On the same visit I bought a reusable bag for me and I have stopped bringing plastic bags home no matter I bring my stuff bare in hand with people staring at the butter or bread I have bought. If I do not take reusable bags for shopping that is my mistake. I have bundled up all the bags all ready at home and will take them to the store on my next visit. Though tough but to save the earth we have to work, already it's too late.

Amongst myriad people just a handful doing this stuff will not help at all until the Government across the planet is ready to take giant steps toward this problem. Stop the manufacturing of plastic bags and other useless stuffs, if not manufactured how will they be used. States like Maharashtra have banned the use of plastic bags, the city is still working so why cannot other places follow the suit. Not alone plastics but there are a lot of issues that only Government can handle like deforestation, over catching of fishes, saving wild life, underground water level, rain water harvestation, use of solar and wind energy, cars and houses using mainly sun for energy, so much use or paper towels and aluminium foils and many more........they need to take out laws and people will follow it, they will have to and one day this all will came into our nature. But the greed for vote and money will not let them take this step because power is more important to them. If nations around the world are so worried about the environment, as they show they are, then why not they chalk out rules at once, what are they waiting for?
Everybody knows what a harm plastics do to the environment. Also everyone can feel the change in the weather every year around them. I do not think that even efficient recycling will help because every such process has a byproduct and I do not think that this process is free of harmful byproducts. The only way is to stop using them.

There was an interview of Daniel Goleman the writer of Ecologocal Intelligence in the Reader's Digest where he said, 'Remember: Industry and commerce developed basic processes when nobody knew or cared about ecological impacts. Today we do know and care.'. He also told that the ingredients in sunscreen washed off the swimmers have threatened 10% of the coral reef.

Time is running out, take quick steps.

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