Plastic: More deadly than you know
Nothing in the world is as embedded in modern human life as plastic. You eat from plastic cutlery, you carry around things in plastic bags, you clean your ear with plastic buds, you write from a pen made up of plastic, etc etc. and the list could be endless. The power it holds is unmatchable, but does great power comes with no responsibility? If we are brutally honest, plastic has proved to be a ruckus for the planet as 70 per cent of plastic packaging products are converted into plastic waste in a short span. The statistics for India are worrisome as it is the fifth highest plastic waste generator country in the world and in 2019-2020, India generated 34,69,780 tonnes of plastic waste according to the Central Pollution Control Board Annual Report 2021. If we are to truly understand this problem of plastic pollution, we have to go beyond the conventional thinking of limiting plastic pollution only to a pile of garbage. Yes, the pile of garbage clogs sewers and adds to marine litter, but the adverse consequences it brings in the form of single-use plastic and microplastics needs greater attention