Aryabhatta Foundation founder and environmentalist Sudhir Kumar Rout has written to the President and Prime Minister of India raising apprehensions over the reckless disposal of plastic banners,
posters, placards, hoardings and other materials used during
campaigning for the recently held elections in five States and the
panchayat and ULB polls in Odisha.
It is quite pathetic that, soon after the elections, these materials
lay scattered leading to plastic pollution which has become one of the
most significant contributors to climatic change. Rout further pointed
out that, the plastic materials will clog the drainage systems to
cause health hazards and artificial floods.
When the discarded plastic materials reach the farm land, they spoil
the fertility of soil and pollute the whole environment, threatening
the ecosystem, human health and food safety, he told.
Similarly, plastics can release harmful chemicals into the surrounding
soil which can then seep into ground water or other surrounding water
sources causing harm to species that drink the contaminated water. It
has been observed that the ground water contain harmful chemicals like
BPA and other chemicals used in plastic production, he mentioned.
Rout appealed to the President of India, the Prime Minister and CMs of
the States to order all political parties and independent candidates
to collect the plastic materials used by them during the elections and
ensure their recycling. The unbridled use of plastic materials and
leaving them to degrade the environment is against the spirit of the
Indian Constitution, he said.