Single use plastic is choking our earth at an exponential rate. Human produce 300 million tonnes of plastic each year, which is nearly the same as the weight of the entire human population. While India is not a top global consumer of plastics, 11 Kgs of plastic are consumed per capita compared with 110 Kgs in the U.S., it has poor rates of waste management. Much of the country’s recycling sector is informal and unregulated, operating without government oversight. Every day, India generates 1.5 Crore Kgs of plastic waste of which only 90 Lakh Kgs are collected and recycled, leaving the rest to pollute water, clog drains, kill cows and degrade soil.

While we can all play our part by recycling the plastic we produce, we can also encourage industries to produce plastic free alternatives or to buy back the plastic they sell to us as packaging of chips, breads, toiletries etc. We need more sustainably produced products available in the market without the use of single use plastics.