Some times as a consumer I feel forced to carry home the trash I never want to. Visit a big shopping mall and you are left with no option than to carry a big carry bag, big enough to fit me, buy cookies, milk, potato chips, they all come with that extremely colourful plastic wrappers and covers, which I don't understand what to do with. More annoying are the generously discarded and strewn plastic water sachets and bottles.
I always wonder, people who are so generously promoting and contributing these non-degradable should be made responsible and accountable to retrieve, reclaim and recycle all the waste?
We can not make consumers always accountable to waste generation! especially when they are not left with an alternative. The source should be plugged some where. If this is agreed upon then how this problem could be addressed? what kind of changes and amendments should be made to the policy and law?
Please suggest...
Kanna
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Replies
i do agree with your apprehension on waste generators. I think by law it should be imposed to manufacturers of all kind to take up the responsibility to retrieve their waste after use of the commodity. We poor customers are paid for all the "Beautiful Waste packages' as wrappers and packages of the consumer products. Recently an interesting observations I made when I visited Europe is that at many regions the water bottles are only made of glass instead of PET bottles , the used ones are retrieved by the company and refilled and sold to their outlets, avoiding a good source of solid waste. Why cannot we insist Govt to enact a law to prohibit use of PET bottles through some public campaigning?
Another very important fact is to educate our children to properly dispose the waste materials in dins, as a environmentally and socially aware citizen ( civic sense ) from lower classes in schools. ( for that matters there should be proper public disposal system)
A citizen not ashamed of throwing waste in public place is not to be respected as an educated gentle man if at all one has suffixes of long Professional "tail" after their names.
Once a beautiful city, We at Trivandrum suffers from plastic waste generated by mainly shopkeepers, they simply dump their packages in public drainage system and that causes local flooding especially at Main Bus stand and Central Railway station.
Why cannot be thinking of imposing Solid Waste TAX for the volume of solid waste generated by manufactures?
A concept of ZERO waste is the need of time (an NGO "Thanal" is doing a good job here).
Preferably I go to grossery shops where shopkeepers wrap the items in news papers and avoid supermarkets where they offer everything in plastics only.
Thank you for making a discussion of very creative and socially responsible discussion.
KANNA KUMAR SIRIPURAPU said:
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My concern was not about the choices that I have to make as a customer. My doubt was about what the industries are doing to reclaim and recycle! for instance, if 'x' amount of material (plastic here) is being utilized / produced by the industry (eg: Uncle chips here/ Ariel/ Big shopping mall) in question then how much of the produced plastic waste is being reclaimed by the same industry? Did this use and reclamation reflects in their audit? do they actually include such thing in their audits? do they have a system in place to reclaim and recycle the waste they are responsible to generate?
Simplification is the root cause for most of the problems associated with the environment but not the panacea. For instance calculating the "Net Value" of the standing forest is a simple and awfully absurd approach.
hence, I feel it would be better if one could think beyond the choices a customer should or could make! If chopping onions with my family is the permanent solution, the yes, I would love to do it all my life and what more can I bargain for if it gives me the pleasure to spend time with my family! Moreover, I'm not very lucky to have a glance at the dirty politicians as I watch NGC, Animal Planet and Discovery mostly.
Thank you for your suggestions and for sharing valuable information. I was just wondering whether the extended producers responsibility is now confined only to e-products but not for others..? Then there is a gap! what about all those wrappers being strew and littered all over the place? I was wondering Dr. KSM Rao, whether there are any laws which make producers mandatory to reclaim waste (excluding e-waste, as I already know about it), but I'm not familiar with anything that makes industries that produces these domestic products.
I would like to add one thing, I'm a strict environmentalist and shopkeepers usually thank me for rejecting and not accepting polythene bags from them. I have even turned into vegan for the past ten years only for the love of animals. I either go on foot or use public transport system to reach my office a practice I strictly follow. I dont advocate others but I feel happy if they too realize it by themselves! As Dr. KSM Rao said it should start from self.
I would like to see the day when companies realize their mistake and act more responsibly.
This has been a serious now a days as the market is running after the beautiful packages. Also they have been doing so to attract the consumer and as a consumer most of us are purchasing their product which the company takes as our appreciation to their products.So just blaming the companies will not find any solution as long as the consumer is not rejecting such products.
as now it has already started the concept of producers extended responsibility and has been implemented in acse of electronic waste as it is in the electronic waste management and handling rule 2010.
Your problem is quite simple. Have reusable containers with you while go for shopping. Take out the contents and load in to to your own reusable container. Put the waste in to seller's bin! Only thing, it is inconvenient to carry containers!
While getting vegetables, buy only ready to cook vegetables. It may be more expensive, and you have to waste your spare time at home watching dirty politician's face on the TV. Better spend your time cutting vegetables with family members, enjoy the fun and spend some money to dispose off the waste.
Regards
V N Sivasankara Pillai
Thank you for sharing information on Chennai's initiative of imposing fine of Rs 100/-. I lived in Chennai for about an year very close to Marina Beach, so I know a little bit about the beach and the surroundings. I'm happy to know about this initiative. I wish the Visakhapatnam's municipality should learn form the initiative of Chennai. Honestly beaches of Visakhapatnam are one of the sickest beaches I ve ever seen. All that you find there are huge puddles of sewage right at the shore. It gives a sense that you are actually sitting next to a sewage channel not the beach. What can I say about the attitude of the people littering the whole area!
The most pathetic part is when you find these plastic covers littered inside the forest where people visit in the name of Eco-tourism. The other such misnomer is when people visit the country side to celebrate garden parties and one should observe what they leave behind!!
I feel the companies such as lays, uncle chips, washing powder, etc etc who spent millions of rupees to promote their product should also take the responsibility of the waste which they are directly responsible for!
I totally agree that each and every citizen is accounable for the waste we generate.Once that realisation occurs hopefully the waste will reduce.The sad part is that every one is happy to dump it out of their homes whether it is the street or beach just because it is not in their own homes.
We don't need garbage collection from residences if only every one tries to compost their kitchen waste.The paper and plastics can be given to the "kabadiwallas".
We require stringent laws on waste disposal.Chennai Corporation has taken the first step by imposing a fine of Rs 100/- on anyone throwing paper or plastic on Marina Beach.Hope this law is carried out across the country .
Kamla