Question

‘Plastic waste is a by-product of urban lifestyle and is considered as a necessary evil’.
Provide your critical views on this statement, focusing on utility of plastic in the growth
of urban lifestyle and impacts of plastic waste on the environment (including humans)
in 1000 words.

Answer 1

Answer:

The mission to end the plastic menace must include ending single-use plastics, promoting alternatives to fossil fuel-based materials, promoting 100 per cent recycling of plastics, corporate and government accountability and changing human behaviour concerning plastics

Select items that come in non-plastic recycled and recyclable packaging. Credit: Tom Page/Flickr

Select items that come in non-plastic recycled and recyclable packaging. Credit: Tom Page/Flickr

The World Environment Day 2018 will be celebrated on June 5, 2018 with the theme ‘Beat plastic pollution’ with India as the global host.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently mentioned it in his radio show Mann ki baat and called for saving environment. But Mann ki baat wouldn’t yield any outcomes until it becomes Jan-jan ki baat and the citizens of India realise the drastic effects of plastic and feel the need for saving environment.

Focus has to be on mobilising the world to tackle plastic pollution, including creating support for a global effort to eliminate single-use plastics along with global regulation for the disposal of plastics. Government should make sincere efforts to educate millions of people about the health and other risks associated with the use and disposal of plastics, including pollution of our oceans, water, and wildlife, and about the growing body of evidence that decomposing plastics are creating serious global problems.