MY WASTE – MY RESPONSIBILITY
“Responsibility is accepting that you are the cause and the solution of matter…”
So in the Advent of 21st century, what’s the concerning matter of taking responsibility?
This thing is very clear from the fact that INDIA, the second top populous country generates nearly 15 million tonnes of plastic waste everyear, making it the 15th biggest plastic polluter globally and surprisingly, that only one- fourth of this is recycled.
Here, one can observe that
Plastic waste > Recycled waste
which threat the whole planet and it’s biodiversity.
So, who are the originator of this waste ?
Obviously ”THE HUMAN BEINGS.”
Man is the author of all disasters. The major problems in the world are the results of the difference between HOW NATURE WORKS and THE WAY PEOPLE THINK. Human being are great in their own eyes but are not much in the eyes of nature.
They have used their incredible abilities to develop a staggering array of limiting beliefs, justifications and excuses for every occasion but unable to understand that what wealth they are going to loose in order to collect money as a wealth. The biggest wealth is NATURE. Yes, the environment that build the whole nation beauty and is a hallmark of livelihood. But we in our daily lives become so overwhelmed that we destroy the beauty in order to accomplish our needs and spreading waste all around.
Waste are basically things that we have consumed and used it’s primary purpose then after doing so dispose them accordingly. The biggest example is of PLASTIC.
Plastics are integral part of society and have varied application but the increasing concern is due to non- degradability and generation of toxic gases on combustion during incineration. Biological effects from pollution leads to economic effect and losses. Plastic Waste Management is a critical issue ehigh need high concern and the matter upon which responsibility should be taken off as talked earlier.
So, who should be responsible for this !!
WE, the real producer of this waste, paid for same. It’s like ” MY WASTE – MY RESPONSIBILITY”
It is the mantra for No Dumping, a change in the paradigm of waste management launched by Jalandhar municipal corporation based on 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – principle under swachh survekshan 2021. Waste is collected from different locations like apartment, associated and all public places. The waste which is collected is already segregated into three broad categories:
1) organic waste
2) inorganic waste
3) sanitary waste
Organic waste is send for composting and the sanitary waste is sent to corporation landfill while the inorganic is further categories into two, Recyclable waste which sent for recycling and the non Recyclable waste which is used as AFR ( alternative fuel resources). These are the most useful toolkit for managing the plastic waste but we should take care that the methods or strategies we are adopting should be Eco- friendly.
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it…..”
~Robert Swan
But the reality is that only I can change my life, noone can do it for me. It’s like, when you think – everything is someone’s fault, you will suffer a lot and when you realize – everything springs only from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy. And the beauty of accepting is that you are also accepting the power to change your life, yourself and your circumstances because the world changes when we change our perspective. However, plastic is ubiquitous, it’s visibly the backbone of globalization and as we know, eliminating it is quite difficult but still half of the world is struggling to encounter this waste threat with reasonable and pragmatic solutions.
In 2008, Rwanda became a pioneer in banning disposal plastic and has transformed into one of the cleanest nations on the globe. Other special attempt that pushed by South Africa is a MOU ( memorandum of understanding) signed by actors in plastic sector with government to monitor efficiencies of various stakeholders but many developing countries are not able to manage the plastic waste including INDIA, despite strengthening their instance against packaging plastics, they fail to effectively implement it due to the
•dearth of infrastructure
•lack of awareness
•enforcement
•availability of affordable alternative, etc.
” Progress is impossible without change and those who can’t change their minds, can’t change anything…”
So, the prior mutation is of mindset. However problem can be addressed only by establishing better waste management system, by improving source segregation, designing an effective municipal solid waste plane, ensuring collection and transportation of segregated waste and encouraging the country to identify and use affordable plastic alternative products.
We must now agree on a binding review mechanism under international law, so that this century can credibly called a century of DECARBONISATION. I don’t want to protect the environment, I want to create a world where environment doesn’t need protection. And the objective can be achieved only when government solemnly take active steps within their countries and everyone be aware because it’s time to rethink the way we manufacture, use and dispose of plastic items in most favourable way.
Therefore, it’s the need of the hour that each person should take his responsibility and promote the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Because
“when
‘I’ is replaced by ‘WE’
even
‘ILLNESS’ becomes ‘WELLNESS’….”
