"The World of Plastics – and You!" By Gary Girdhari

Have you ever taken a moment to think about the excessive packaging of goods and materials bought in stores and online? Well, I have, and I’m sure many others have thought about this also. For some others, it doesn’t matter because it is of no concern – only because it has not yet come up into their realization. They accept it, like most others things, as a way of life, because they/we are being “told” it’s the way to go!

As an example: after returning from a supermarket you will find that you will have twice as many plastic bags as the number of items purchased, thanks to ‘double’ bagging. Or if you buy a small gadget online, you will find amazingly that the small item is in a box (plastic sometimes) which is placed in another much larger shipping box filled with Styrofoam and/or bubblewrap.

Look around and try to assess the bags, packaging, the varieties of plastic wrappings, the so-called modern amenities that are supposed to make your life easier. A quick look: coffee and soup cups, pre-packaged sandwiches and salads, the ubiquitous soda and water (plastic) bottles, plastic milk bottles, packaged fruits and meats in polystyrene trays, take-away foods containers, plastic knives, forks and spoons, plastic wrappings of bread, containers for ice cream, yoghurt, potato chips and Doritos. If you have a baby, include the many pampers and containers for the wipes. And then you may utilize a plastic bag for each of these items. This is a quick look, and we are all ‘guilty’.

In Britain alone it is estimated that people discard 58 billion items – 1.5 million tonnes – of household plastic packaging a year, not to mention other plastic items. I have visited my local flea market at the end-of-day operation and I was startled to observe the large quantity of plastics strewn on the tarmac – this does not include the plastic bags of customers.

It is indeed startling and worrisome: how in a short time we have been lured into a false sense of what is good for us. Gone are the days of the re-usable and washable bags. Yes, we now live in a disposable society.

Already there are scary announcements of a ‘doomsday’ as a consequence of rapid climate change – manmade global warming. Our disregard for our natural world has obviously been for short-term benefit for a few. We have indulged in unnecessary excesses in over-consumption, improper utilization of land and water, deforestation and plunder of global resources. And for the ordinary person who has been indoctrinated into accepting “what is good for you’, his behavior is now knee-jerk, unconscious and habituated.

Human life and indeed all life may face an apocalypse of man’s own making ahead of the biblical forewarning. It is imperative to change direction; to modify our behavior; to unlearn bad practices. Some businesses and special interest groups will continue to peddle their goods for mere money and profits. But the future of our planet – the earth, water and air – with all life on it, is in jeopardy unless we collectively make a conscious action plan to change our relationship with the world around us – soon. The seek-and-find, the frontier man’s spirit of brutal capture, the hunter instinct, have all led to plunder for selfish gain. Let us be reminded that Nature is not inexhaustible. There has to be an attitudinal change to embrace the natural world, to nurture it rather than destroy it. (I was so pleased this past week or so when I taught a 3-year old and a 5-year old the three R’s – reduce reuse recycle.) They are too young to grasp the concept, but, by example and repeated counsel, guidance and encouragement, the ideas will be reinforced and the buzz words may become practical routines.

Do we need government to make rules and laws to change lifestyles and attitudes? Yes, we do. But often, government is the problem. The people are the government! And we the people have to be active – to participate and agitate for meaningful change – to tell government what must be done.

Let us be clear in the recognition that modern invention has benefited humanity enormously. Plastics has greatly advanced the quality of life in many instances. But it is the unwise and excessive usage that is creating problems. Plastics are non-biodegradable. Generally, there are poor recyclable practices. They form toxic landfills. They also kill many marine life forms by entanglement and suffocation.

We have to think sagaciously not only for short-term economic gains and feigned comfort, but also acknowledge that unabated exploitation of our natural world and injudicious excesses will certainly and exponentially further eat away the essential natural support systems on which all life depend.

We are all in this together. We either swim together or sink together.