After reading and watching the news every day, you must be familiar with how plastics are destroying the earth. But they are an important part of everyone’s life, right from toothbrushes to chairs, or cars to smartphones.

And Maharashtra is once of the biggest polluters in the country generating up to 2,820 metric tonnes of plastic waste daily!

Was plastic ban successful in Maharashtra?

Last year, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) decided to put a ban on the use of various plastic items in a bid to fight pollution caused due to its extensive use. It banned not just manufacture but also the use, storage, and distribution of items made of plastics. But, was it effective?

I feel the ban was major step towards curbing plastic pollution, but it was incomplete. There were no plastic alternatives provided by the government. Businesses suffered as well. A big decision like this needs planning in advance which lacked from the authorities’ side and that’s why plastic was actually never banned in Maharashtra!

Also, a big miss was awareness among the people. Plastic pollution will be eliminated when each and every individual makes a conscious choice of not adding more plastic in their lives and treating the existing plastic in a responsible manner.

Did you know - Plastics are made from natural materials?

We know how plastics are made. Plastics are made from natural materials such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt, and crude oil through a polymerization or polycondensation process. 

These resources are obtained from nature which in turn are being used to make a product which is destroying the environment!

Plastics are killing the earth!

Plastics are harmful for humans as well as the environment as they do not decompose easily. The everyday plastic bags we use, take some 500-1,000 years to decompose, while plastic bottles can take 450 years or more.  

The remains of plastics get buried underground for years. Water and nutrition do not spread into the soil making it barren land not suitable for yielding crops.

Plastic consumption is so high in our day-to-day lives that eradicating it overnight is not possible. Plastic pollution is rising every day in Maharashtra. Making crores of people in Maharashtra ditch plastic is a big challenge. And it is the duty and responsibility of every citizen to act now!

(The views expressed in the article are the author’s own. Let Me Breathe neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)