REDUCING
SINGLE-USE
PLASTIC
POLLUTION
:
ROLE
OF
YOUTH
'
PLASTIC
will
be
the
ma
in ingredient
of
all
our
grandchildren's recipes
',
said Anthony T
Hincks.
By
2050,
there
will
be
more
plastic in
the
ocean
than
fish. India produces
approximately
24,900
tons
of
plastic waste every day.
Humanity
's relationship
with
plastic
is
rather
schizophrenic.
It
's
present
in
almost
every aspect
of
modern
life,
from
water
bottle
s
to
aeroplanes. Yet,
it'
s
the
biggest
environmental
ev
il. The Indian Ocean,
the
pride
of
India,
is
now
the
biggest
dumping
ground
for
plastic waste. In such a scenario, can
we
truly
dream
of
'freeing'
the
country
from
single-use plastic? But
what
is single-use plastic?
Is
it
something
which
we
rarely use
or
is
it
the
necessity
of
every household? Single-use plastic
is
the
disposable plastic
that
we
don't
think
twice
before
throwing.
Articles like- straws,
carry bags, bottles, containers are all pa
rt
of
this
man-made calamity.
Items
that
start
our
day
are ending
our
own
planet.
Si
ngle-u
se
plastic is n
ot
only
har
mful
to
our
environment
but
also is a
death
-causing
agent
for
animals.
It
ca
n pierce th
eir
organs
or
choke
their
digestive
tract
and cause
their
death. Globally, 100,000 marine
mammals
die
every year
as
a
result
of
plastic
pollution.
Being a versatile and
highly
durable
product
wit
h
low
cost, plastic is one
of
the
main
reasons
for
climate change. T
he
use
of
plastic is creating an envi
ronmental
crisis
due
to
its
pollution.
34.33%
of
India's
total
population
is
youth.
From
our
history
and even nowadays
scenar
io
, one
thing
is clear
that
youth
is
the
key
to
any
revolution.
And
seeing
the
situation
created
by
plastic usage,
our
youth
has
to
come
forward
and take
the
charge
to
create a
plastic-free
world.
Suman Chowdhury, a 23-year-old business graduate, is
the
president
and
founder
of
Plastic
Initiative
Network
. This organisation
is
working
to
ensure
proper
recycling and reu
si
ng
of
plastic. On
the
30
th
of June 2020, 1,900 young people
joined
together
at
the
Virtual
Youth
Summit in India
to
celebrate
their
completion
of
the Tide Turners Plastic Challenge in India.
This
competition
was organised
by
Uni
ted Nations E
nvironmen
t Progr
amme
's (UNEP) Clean
sea campaign. This was organised
to
creat e awareness
about
plastic
pollution
.
"W
e
will
only
be able
to
turn
the
tide
on
plastic p
ollu
t
io
n
if
we
change
our
habits and use
our
voice
to
