In an age of plastic mindsets, I was pleasantly surprised when I read the papers a couple of days back that the government was being a bit elastic in its thoughts. Well, I am talking about the decision to ban the use of plastic in shops in Bangalore. Although many may not have noticed the importance of this significant, albeit small move, I hope this will help clear the bitter part of the litter story in the days to come.

This move made delightful sense to me when I remembered the synthetic images of plastic covers which had clogged up the drains and lead to sewage overflow in many areas in the city with the advent of copious rains. The administration officials immediately set to work on it. They never had heard about prevention being better than cure. And the rag pickers could carry home the spoils of the day-plastic of-course.

With less plastic in sight if the ban is implemented as it should be, the rag pickers will have to make drastic changes in their strategic plan to increase productivity. I suppose they will have to focus more on paper and other recyclable commodities.

I suppose this can be better done if the common man makes necessary changes in his mind-set and starts preferring recycled paper to the hardhearted plastic. Else the potential effects can be quite caustic. In the long run this could lead to soil degradation, lowering of the water table which in-turn would lead to lower rains- a vicious circle which we could avoid by just saying 'No' to plastic. Let's be elastic in our thoughts and say...Viva Recycled Paper...Save trees too in the bargain...

Did you know that?

There are nearly 50,000 patents on plastic products.
Eatables carried in poly-bags get contaminated and can cause misshapen limbs or affect kidneys.

Recycled plastic bags are available at a rate as low as Rs.35 per kilogram or at the most Rs.40.

Workers in (and people living near) petroleum refineries and some types of plastic resin factories run an increased risk of getting various kinds of cancer.
Fires in homes and commercial buildings kill thousands each year, many of them because of the toxic smoke created by burning plastics.

More than a million seabirds and approximately 100,000 sea mammals die each year after ingesting, or becoming entangled in, plastic debris.

Less deadly, but economically damaging to the tourist industry is plastic litter on beaches.

A significant percentage of municipal solid waste is plastics: 7% of garbage by weight, and 18% to 30% by volume, is plastics, which physically disintegrate very slowly. In an incinerator, burning plastic releases hydrochloric acid which degrades the incinerator rapidly, releases chlorine which is then available to form dioxins, and releases toxic metals that were added to the plastics to give them color or stiffness or some other desirable characteristic.

Lastly, as we make final preparations to wage all out war to protect our Saudi oil connection, it seems fitting to reflect on the hidden costs of our addiction to petroleum-based plastics, most of which are unnecessary, and are also more toxic and environmentally destructive than the natural materials they have replaced.

When faced with arguments why plastics should be phased out, deception and distortion are the standard modes of communication for the plastics industry. Depending on who they're talking to, they want to have it both ways: they say, on the one hand, that plastic liners beneath a landfill will last forever and will thus protect the environment in perpetuity against the toxic metals in landfill leachate; on the other hand, they want us to believe that plastic garbage bags are "biodegradable" and will break down in the environment and be recycled by nature until there's nothing left.

Do leave your thoughts on the Banging it Out Board in the Communiqué.

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