AMITABH SRIVASTAVA, senior journalist
As the 193 nations gathered at Ottawa in Canada come to the end of their deliberations for the INC 4 meeting on elimination of Plastics what are the chances of a workable treaty 2024?
Common sense tells us that interests of various nations clash so much that even the over optimistic do not see any such possibility.
At a pre-summit of the INC 4 meeting held at Prayas JAC Society more than a week back on the topic “, Can we live without plastics” under the banner of Prayas Manthan Manch, Tribhuvan Singh Bisht from the Centre for Science and Environment explained how decisions are taken at such conferences.
“There has to be either a consensus on policy decisions or a majority vote. The oil rich nations who stand to benefit the most through Plastic production will obviously oppose any such blanket ban because it affects their economy while other countries will take their stand depending on how seriously they take the crisis”,he espoused.
And the vocal and informed gathering at Prayas also agreed with his line of reasoning that even though plastic poses a danger to human kind because of its indestructible nature one cannot ignore the advantage of plastic. It is cheaper, lighter than other material and lasts longer( which is also it’s negative impact).
One also has to be practical when one talks of recycling. Which means the cost of recycling should be beneficial to the companies that are tasked to do this.
This is true not only of India but of rich countries like the USA.
Various reports appearing in the New York Times indicate that plants for recycling of plastics are either shutting down or are proving incapable of meeting the target.
Under the circumstances expecting the governments alone to finish the menace of plastics which made a huge comeback with the Corona is expecting the Sun to rise from the West, literally.
Let’s do our part by simply carrying a shopping bag when going shopping as a small gesture.
Or will that be too much to expect as a small step towards our future generations?
The menace of this man-made monster called Plastic reminds me of a line from Kabir:
माटी कहे कुम्हार से तू क्या रूंधे मोय
इक दिन ऐसा आयेगा मैं रूंधूगी तोय
