We are ultimately what we feel, consume and surround ourselves with. That’s why growing violence, injustice, cloning of humans, market-driven poetry, and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers get me worried
There is something eerie about the fact that plastic does not ever perish. It is a set of chemicals, uninterestingly mouldable into any form. Some types of plastic water bottles contain a chemical that leaches into the drinking water it holds. This chemical, Bisphenol A, acts as a faux-estrogen to pregnant women, and can cause chromosomal abnormalities that lead to birth defects and developmental disabilities in the foetus. Plastic has no smell, and plastic flowers accumulate dust in their crevices.
We are ultimately what we feel, consume and surround ourselves with. And this is why growing violence, injustice, cloning of humans, market-driven poetry, and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers get me worried. Terror and violence in a society cause unnatural change on the victims. They kills or else create a warped perspective of reality for the surviving witnesses of terror. Cloning is asexual and thereby unnatural too. It is as fake as the poetry that does not originate from human experience. Plastic flowers-bottles-surgery (when not needed) are equally a forgery of what could be real.
The earliest plastics were actually modifications of natural materials such as animal horn, amber, shellac, and tortoiseshell, which could be manipulated into various forms by heating. In the 19th century, synthetic chemistry in the chemical, dye, paper, and textile industries led to the discovery of cellulose nitrate or Celluloid. It was used for photographic negatives, billiard balls and even false teeth. Very quickly the demand for mass-produced items at an affordable price drove the growth of the plastics industry.
Cellulose acetate was even adopted by the movie industry for making film rolls. Bakelite was introduced into popular use in the 1920s for radios. The 20th century saw the invention of Styrofoam, PVC, acrylic, polyurethane, epoxy, cellophane, nylon, synthetic rubber and textile fibers.
In the United States, synthetic paints began to replace natural materials in household paints in the 1930s. Plastics became popular — they were just cheaper and more readily available, especially during World War II, when natural raw materials were difficult to obtain. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, the global plastic consumption has gone from 5.5 million tonnes in the 1950s to 110 million tonnes in 2009. Currently, approximately 60 million plastic bottles in the world end up in a landfill, incinerator, or the oceans every day.
Relatively very little plastic in the world is recycled. The top most reason for this is the consumer’s inconvenience to separate waste. However, another major reason is also that the recycling process is tedious and labour intensive — various types of plastic with different chemical compositions first need to be sorted, separately shredded, purified of impurities, then melted and formed into pellets, which can be used to create other plastic products.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that by 2050, plastic will finally outweigh all the fish in the oceans. The Foundation is the pioneer of the concept of the Circular Economy, a generic term for an economy that produces no waste and pollution, and therefore by definition encourages recycling, reusing, and sharing of objects.
Despite my commitment — to the extent of being a permanent judge for the Circular Economy Awards given away at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting at Davos each year, I cannot live with plastic bottles reused as self-watering pots, stationary holders, bird feeders, or wind chimes around in my home. My partner Chirag’s love for mineral water (only available in plastic bottles) over filtered water (that is in the tap), has had to suffer, given my ban of plastic in our bedroom.
I watched in awe this week Emma Watson walking the red carpet of the MET Gala in New York in a gown crafted from three different fabrics, all woven from yarns made from recycled plastic bottles — certainly not my style.
And when news broke out this fortnight of more than 90 homes being built using plastic bottles over 83 acres of the Panamanian jungle, I marvelled at the ingenuity and knew that I would not live there. Plastic is so unnatural that reusing it at home is unappetising — precisely why plastic is filling up our oceans.
My domestic ban on plastic bottles is not unprecedented either. In 2009, the small town of Bundanoon in Australia was the first in the world to enact this ban, out of concerns of resource wastage, transportation emissions, and irreparable damage to the ecosystem.
Twenty two university campuses followed suit, and they too implemented the ban. In the US alone, college graduates from the class of 2016 are estimated to use more than three billion plastic bottles over the next 10 years. Far greater numbers of universities globally must make the same move.
On April 27, 2016, San Francisco became the first city in America to ban the sale of plastic water bottles, with a waiver only permissible if an adequate alternative water source is not available. The current billion-dollar plastic bottle industry was not at all pleased. The American Beverage Association, which includes Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo, said the ban was “nothing more than a solution in search of a problem”.
A few days later, on May 4, under the patronage of Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Ali Bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Dubai too launched a campaign ‘Drop it — say no to plastic bottles’. The UAE has one of the highest consumption of bottled water per capita in the world.
We know that artificiality around us indeed makes us empty from the inside. Surrounding oneself with and consuming all that is untainted realigns the body with what is natural, peaceful and safe. Wearing simple clothing can be full of grace. The blush on the cheek creates beauty when it comes from nutrition and inner positivity. Even art cannot result from superficial effects.
But there are contradictions in appreciating mother earth while deploring the artificialities with which humans have spoiled nature. The obvious contradiction lies in the implication that humans and their artifacts are not part of nature, while birds and their nests are.
Taking the moral high ground has not worked so far. So we can only rely on our aesthetics to find plastic unnatural and therefore ugly enough to put a definitive ban on producing it. While also appreciating man-made creations to safely reuse it.
The writer is Chief Sustainability Officer for the group of companies, Jindal Steel and Power ltd. She is a Global leadership Alumna of the World Economic Forum. miniya.chatterji@jindalsteel.com