I find Re.Plastic Changemakers almost everywhere. Maybe I am looking for them, for the plastic problem that we've created with our greed and gluttony for Single-Use Plastics especially needs billions of people and billions of small and big acts to tackle this issue. The most recent was today at the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI).
I have been at EFI weekly for the screenings of the documentary Kaveri: Kodagu - Kollidam. Today while sharing the traditional South Indian candy the Kamarkat (made of jaggery and coconut) on occasion of Tamil New Year, Vishu, Ugadi, Bihu and Baisakhi, Arun Krishnamurthy EFI's founder passed along a 500 ml plastic bottle for us to stuff the plastic wrapper that the hard candy came wrapped it. At the end of the screening, he showed us that at EFI they were up-cycling plastic bottles stuffed with plastic waste/wrappers into furniture - a small stool for the projector which can also be sat on.
With PET bottles overtaking plastic wrappers as the major pollutants of our rivers and water-bodies, it makes sense that an organization that's helping restore and clean up water-bodies across various Indian states is hands on in addressing the plastic problem. Also, when you consider the fact that just a 500ml plastic water bottle has a carbon footprint of 660g CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), it makes sense to utilize this ecologically costly "stuff" beyond its, if we can't halt the use altogether. With" a million a minute our plastic binge," as the Guardian puts it, the cost of our convenience of the plastic habit is tremendous.
Even as comprehensive bans of plastics are put in place somehow the obvious solution of first stopping the production and then tackling the pollution has been lobbied out of the picture by Big Oil as well as the Plastics Manufacturers. It's at times like this that jugaad in the form of up-cycling becomes a win-win. Utilizing single-use plastics and making a durable and long-term utility item with it.
So when someone or any institution adopts this labor intensive, yet planet saving practice of upcycling, they automatically become Re.Plastic Changemakers par excellence.
So hats off and thank you EFI! May your tribe increase.
I have been at EFI weekly for the screenings of the documentary Kaveri: Kodagu - Kollidam. Today while sharing the traditional South Indian candy the Kamarkat (made of jaggery and coconut) on occasion of Tamil New Year, Vishu, Ugadi, Bihu and Baisakhi, Arun Krishnamurthy EFI's founder passed along a 500 ml plastic bottle for us to stuff the plastic wrapper that the hard candy came wrapped it. At the end of the screening, he showed us that at EFI they were up-cycling plastic bottles stuffed with plastic waste/wrappers into furniture - a small stool for the projector which can also be sat on.
With PET bottles overtaking plastic wrappers as the major pollutants of our rivers and water-bodies, it makes sense that an organization that's helping restore and clean up water-bodies across various Indian states is hands on in addressing the plastic problem. Also, when you consider the fact that just a 500ml plastic water bottle has a carbon footprint of 660g CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), it makes sense to utilize this ecologically costly "stuff" beyond its, if we can't halt the use altogether. With" a million a minute our plastic binge," as the Guardian puts it, the cost of our convenience of the plastic habit is tremendous.
Source: YouTube channel of OnlyPlanet.in
Even as comprehensive bans of plastics are put in place somehow the obvious solution of first stopping the production and then tackling the pollution has been lobbied out of the picture by Big Oil as well as the Plastics Manufacturers. It's at times like this that jugaad in the form of up-cycling becomes a win-win. Utilizing single-use plastics and making a durable and long-term utility item with it.
So when someone or any institution adopts this labor intensive, yet planet saving practice of upcycling, they automatically become Re.Plastic Changemakers par excellence.
So hats off and thank you EFI! May your tribe increase.
Comments
Post a Comment