World Environment Day: A Day in The Life of a Plastic Addict

Are you a plastic addict? Do you even know it?

Are you a plastic addict and do you even know it?

(Photo: The Quint)

Video editor: Prashant Chauhan
Camera: Athar Rather
Camera assistant: Mayank Chawla

Ever bought a bottle of water from a roadside vendor?

If your answer is yes, then you – like me – pose a danger to the world. In the course of this video, I realised how easy it is to miss our dependency on plastic. With each plastic bottle, straw or cutlery we use, our planet moves one step closer to the tipping point.

The theme for World Environment Day 2018 – to which India will play host on 5 June – is ‘beat plastic pollution’. And the onus to beat the pollution lies not only on the government, but also on ordinary citizens like you and I.

Nearly 45 percent of the plastic we dispose consists of the ‘big four’, these include bags, glasses, cutlery and bottles. And currently only nine percent of plastic is recycled in the world.

As a result most of this plastic ends up in oceans or rivers, where it chokes marine life and contaminates the water with chemicals. More than 80 percent of tap water in India contains plastic fibres, which is a concern as chemicals in plastic have been linked to several diseases, including obesity and cancer.

There is a study which states that there will be more plastic in the oceans compared to fish by 2050. Imagine taking a dip into the Ganga to wash away your sins but rising anew with plastic entangles in your hair. Worse off is the holy cow, which dies after continuously munching away on plastic.

But we can all still make a big difference if we mend our habits to get rid of the big four, as I learned after spending a day with Richa Malik, founder of The Happy Turtle.

Malik’s everyday choices go a long way in inspiring others and, sadly, make her a rare exception who is not only complaining about environmental pollution, but is actually doing her bit to save it.