Kexplore: Beat Plastic Pollution; If you can't reuse it, refuse it

World Environment Day (WED) is the biggest, most globally celebrated day for positive environmental action on June 5. It is the people’s day for caring our planet, Earth which motivates everyone to realize not only the responsibility to care for the Earth, but also reminds one and all of their individual power to become agents of change. Every action counts, and when multiplied by a global chorus, becomes exponential in its impact. It has been a campaign for raising awareness on environmental issues for years now. Today we can reflect on what is important: Creating a stable world for the generations to come and it is not possible without the active participation of all of us globally. A believe, humanity should not just limit to humans is a must realized one. Being a part of this world, it is our duty to protect it, preserve it. And every minute we act on it will be a year added for the next generation. It’s a bright future out there if we decide to put in a small effort from our hands today, tomorrow and for days to come.

The theme for the World Environment Day 018 “Beat Plastic Pollution’’ is a call to action for all of us to come together in the same platform in a same day to combat one of the great environmental challenges of our time. This doesn’t necessarily mean advocating and demonstrating environmental concern for a single day, rather it’s a vibrant to awake all the concern bodies and parties around the world to make sure that legacy is passing by and good work is continued. It boosts up the people with that level of energy to tackle various fields of environmental concerns that are dynamic with the time every year. The slogan for this year “If you can’t reuse it, refuse it’’ is a small pledge to reduce the use of plastic or simply a mission to refuse disposable plastic and single- serving packaging in creating a plastic free pristine environment.

Although plastic has many valuable uses making our everyday life easy and simpler, we have become over-reliant on single-use or disposable plastic. This has direct severe consequences in the Environment, a consequence from anthropogenic activities which unfortunately other living creatures without any involvement are forced to endure. This is literally so unfair and injustice, despite a fact those creatures can’t claim and protest against so called most civilized social animal, as a matter of fact this is why we are not then rethinking about the plastic waste. Much of the plastic waste thrown globally ends up in ocean, becoming an epidemic. This waste in ocean now is responsible for killing a million of seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals annually. Coming to a conclusion, it is already proclaimed that there would be more plastic than fish in the ocean by weight by 2050. This is an intensely serious issue to think and rethink over, before you throw your plastic waste.

- Plastic can survive in the environment for up to 500 years.

- Every year the world uses 500 billion of plastic bags.

- In the last decade, we produced more plastic than in the whole last century.

- We buy 1 million plastic bottles every minute.

- Every year, we use 17 million barrels of oil to produce plastic bottles for our water.

- Plastics make up 10% of all of the waste we generate.

This is a high time we think about the management of this 10% of global waste we generate, right from this Environment day, in making this global village a better place to live in.

- Recycling plastic takes 88% less energy than making new plastic.

- We can save 1,000 – 2,000 gallons of gasoline by recycling one ton of plastic.

Have you ever wondered the very first morning you wake up and think about this mesmerizingly amazing and perfect mother Earth? Have you ever stopped to realize how uncredentialled super we are to live in this beautiful planet? We are overjoyed to live in this planet and only indulged with the materialistic part every day, never ever a concern in the carrying capacity of the Earth and the sustainability. Having done all this misbehaves to our planet, it is never a too late to begin something even a small change for this planet Earth, our mother.

- Refuse disposable or single serving packages.

- Bring your own coffee mug.

- Choose reusable lunch bags.

- Find innovative ways to replace single –use plastic.

Just go for the 3R Principles, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. So, if you can’t reuse, simply refuse it. Happy World Environment Day 018- Beat Plastic Pollution. (Facts and data: WED.goglobal)