It’s World Environment Day, the day for the people to do ‘something’ to take care of the Earth they live on. And as per the United Nations guidelines, that ‘something’ can be focused locally, nationally or globally, it can be a solo action or involve a crowd. There are no restrictions, just as long as ‘something’ is done to save the environment. With India being chosen as the host nation this year, it becomes imperative to do something. UN guidelines on selecting a host country is to help highlight the environmental challenges the country faces, and supports the effort to address them.
So what’s Goa doing to observe World Environment Day? Ironically, the State a couple of months ago, decided to ignore Central guidelines on what turns out to be this year’s theme for the Day.
Beating plastic pollution – If you can’t reuse it, refuse it, that what the United Nations tells its member states to do. That is one theme that would be very close to every environmentalist’s heart, and that is also one theme that has been the centre of much debate in the past few weeks in Goa. Following Central government guidelines, municipal councils, including the Corporation of the City of Panaji, had insisted that beginning April, traders dealing or dispensing plastic bags would have to pay a fee, but faced with objections from traders, some went back on the decision. The fee, amounting to Rs 48,000 a year to dispense plastic bags of thickness greater than 50 microns, was found to be too high and they demanded that it should be minimal and in the interest of the small traders and shops. The municipal authorities bowed, and plastic bags continue to be sold and dispensed in Goa’s markets. It being a mandatory directive from the Centre, one thought that the authorities would stick to it, but it didn’t happen.
But then, what about the interest of the environment? Going by the manner in which the authorities caved in, that is a question that hardly anyone thinks of.
Remember the announcement made on Liberation Day last year, the day when Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had announced that there would be a complete ban on plastic in the State from May 30 this year. May 30, Statehood Day, has just passed us by, but the promised ban on plastic has not even been ordered. Can we now wait for December 19 this year, when there is another deadline when polyvinyl chloride-based plastic bags, the type used to package milk, are to be banned? Will this happen or will it be another deadline that is extended yet again? There have already been plenty of them in the past, but with little action taken to meet the deadlines.
If the government and the local authorities cannot do it, then it is up to the people to do ‘something’ and it would be easy to just follow the UN theme for the day – If you can’t reuse it, refuse it. The time for sloganeering is long past, it is now time for action. If everybody starts refusing plastic, traders will have no choice but to stop stocking it. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres has advised, “Reject single-use plastic. Refuse what you can’t re-use. Together, we can chart a path to a cleaner, greener world.”
Plastic is one material that is not biodegradable and can remain in the environment for decades. According to data available, a plastic bag can remain in the environment up to 80 years, causing tremendous damage to the surroundings. Thicker plastics have an even longer life, though they may be reusable. The only option is to refuse plastic bags.
