What do u think about plastic bags and bottles? Can we do without them?

Ever since I opened my eyes in this world, I have been so habitual of these thin plastic bags that I could never imagine I had been using something that is hazardous for both the environment and the people inhabiting the globe. Today, when I hear loud cries calling for a ban on plastic bags coming from all corners of the world, I realize it is really dangerous to depend on plastic for daily use. But I do wonder how I will be able to do away with this cheapest and lightest means of carrying my luggage. Plastic does makes life so easy, but it isn't worth spending your money on. Why? Let's see.

Plastic bags and bottles found here and there have been our greatest friends since ages. But, these friends of ours have been severely putting a strain on our environment. Have you ever realized this? Discarding plastic waste in open environment chokes water bodies, clogs soil pores, blocks the drainage system, with much of the waste ending up in the tummies of most fish and water animals. Not only this, the plastic waste when gets mixed and clogged with other waste emits harmful gases, which do us no good. If the same plastic becomes the food for fish, it only means death for them. I do not need to talk about how these fish decorate our dining table and satiate our hunger. So what we end up eating most of the time is toxic fish. Can we take that risk? I support the ban on plastic!

Say NO to Plastic

What can be done to reduce the side effects of plastic waste? Recycling of plastic is the best way to reduce the burden on the environment. Let's begin with saying no to using plastic bags first.

• Take a jute or cotton bag along to the market is a good idea. This would mean rejecting the use of plastic bags.
• Take a pledge not to throw plastic bottles and bags in open. Make use of the use-and-throw bottles after cleansing them and re-using them for some other purpose. A few years ago, I read about kids at the Richmond Visual Arts Center, who made the perfect use of wasted plastic bottles. They remodeled the plastic bottles into plastic bottle toys, making sure the plastic waste in their homes don't end up clogging the drains outside. WOW! That's a grand idea and the kids have shown their concern for the environment, which most of the present generation seems to ignore.
• Make different uses of plastic, and if we cannot do without plastic, we can put them to use in more ways than one so that these do not pollute the outside environment. We can use these plastic bottles instead of penholders or piggybanks. Isn't that a good idea? While doing some good to the environment by supporting the ban on plastic, you would be saving a few dollars that would otherwise be spent on buying penholders, piggybanks, among others.

The most appropriate way to cleanse the environment is to discourage the manufacturing of plastic bags and bottles and completely support the ban on plastic. The government and legislating authorities must take strict action to support the anti-plastic movement and ban use of plastic.

New Delhi has taken this stand against plastic bags. The Delhi Government has banned plastic bags -- a step that will certainly help in restoring the degrading environment to some extent. Chandigarh is another city that has banned plastic bags in India.

Lets join hands together at least for the sake of our environment. Whatever steps we take to support the ban on plastic will be helping our generation and the coming generations as well. Are we ready to take up the cudgels against the use of plastic?

What are you doing to support the ban on plastic?