I was delighted when I joined Tarumitra’s internship program because being in political science stream, the knowledge and innovative ideas and startegies I learnt here amazed me to the core. I experienced the beauty of nature and thrill of working to maintain and conserve the beauty that we cherish. Working here had provided me an opportunity to widen my horizon of learning. Here at Tarumitra, we have 3 online meetings per week and an offline meeting on Sundays at Tarumitra Ashram which has been the most mesmerizing part.
In our first meeting, we introduced ourselves and exchanged the enthusiasm of working for nature conservation. In our second meeting, we were educated about plastic waste management via seminars and presentations. The plastic products are non-biodegradable that means once a plastic particle is manufactured or produced no matter how large or how tiny it is, it is going to remain on earth’s surface forever. The plastic particles are harmful both for the living ambience and living species.
Improper waste management practices cause the problem to rise more seriously. The escalating problem is of the site of landfill. The already allocated areas for landfill have long been filled and the demand for manufacture of new landfills is high. However, it is difficult to redivide land areas and segregate them for landfills as it needs to fulfill several safety parameters. We can make small attempts on our own level to minimize the use of plastics. For instance: a fine day you decide to go for shopping and at the end along with a lot of goodies and groceries , you also have a deposit of hefty amount of plastic bags. What if we carry our own carry bags and reduce the wastes produced. Even water and milk like items are packaged in plastic. This shows how dependent we have become on plastic products. Hence it is difficult for us to compromise with the plastic alternatives as we think plastic is superior and we merely cannot imagine our lives without plastics. We should opt out simple changes in our daily behaviors. Instead of using plastic mats, why not we go for bamboo weaven mats. Instead of plastic combs, lets opt out for wooden ones. These alternatives are healthy and safe for use.
We have to reduce our dependency towards plastic and deviate towards alternatives. The day is not far when we breathe in plastic nanoparticles in air . Be wise and start the positive changes from your very own perspective.
-Shalini Raj
