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Misconceptions about plastics unveiled at the UMANG
 
Plastics is not harmful, but littering plastics is…!!!

This sounds like a slogan coined by ICPE in favour of plastics....... Right? WRONG!!!

These are the words of a 16-year old college student from Mumbai, winner of the "Plastics Day Contest" organised by ICPE (Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment) with the help of www.plastemart.com at UMANG, the annual festival of Narsee Monjee College in Bombay with its stall presence at Yashoda Rang Mandir.

Over 20000 students across the state participated in this 5-day festival, spread across 5 venues in Juhu Scheme. For the first 3 days, students were invited to participate in the "Plastics Day Contest" wherein the only rule was "The participant would not use plastics in any form on 24 August 2002, right from the minute he/she got up till 1500 hours on the same day." Not a single student managed to actually accomplish this seemingly easy feat, but nonetheless 3 winners were announced, on the basis of their minimum usage of plastics. The prize winners were called on stage in front of a 5000 strong audience, comprising solely of teenagers. Kavita Shah of www.plastemart.com held the young , impressionable minds captive, as the winners were called on stage and asked " Would you like to lead the rest of your life the way you lived the past 8 hours?" The answer to this was loud and unanimous - Life is not possible without plastics. The prizes sponsored by Cello were given by Mr. M.P. Taparia -CM Supreme Petrochemicals, Mr.S.V. Kabra- CM Kolsite Group, Mr.P.R.Singhvi-Manager Borouge, Mr Rajiv Tolat and Mr rajendra Naik along with the staff of ICPE.

The idea was to spread awareness among the younger generation regarding the various ways in which plastics touch our lives. Since its introduction, plastics has been depicted in equally contrary perspectives: the unprecedented miracle material versus the compromise of industrial advancement. Some environmentalists have accused that plastics manufacturers are indifferent and hostile to the concept of conservation. They also claim that plastics have gained success at nature's expense. In order to unveil some of the misconceptions induced about plastics by such accusations and also to highlight the importance of plastics in everyday life, ICPE decided to participate in the festival by organising the contest.

The contest was a major success and its objective was met as the message ICPE desired to spread was found echoing from the quotes of the winners.

The winners were called on stage and this is what they had to say...

"...ICPE has made me realize that plastic is not harmful, but littering plastic is…!!! Since that day, I have been very cautious about the things that I use and was amazed to know that every second thing that I use is made up of plastic! And now if we say that plastic is harmful, life is going to be really tough! Plastic has become one of the most essential part of our lives and now if we try to replace plastic with any substitute, environment will suffer a lot! So instead, we should try to make proper use of the resources available to us and take care that we do not harm the environment in any way. I have started contributing to make our environment clean in my little ways like for example while traveling by the train, I make it a point to keep the wrappers in my bag and then dispose them off in a dust bin provided on the railway station. I think these are the little things that matter so much and I am sure I am contributing my bit in making our city clean, and this was all possible by the awareness created by the members of ICPE at NM college. If they wouldn’t have dragged my attention to this, I think I would have been one among the crowd who do not even care to give it a second thought while littering. I think ICPE has made us aware about all this in a very sporty way, and I hope they will continue to spread this awareness among everyone else. And on my part, I am always ready to help ICPE and would like to help making our nation a better place to live in..."

Anupreet, first prize winner

"...Firstly, I would like to tell you that your concept was excellent. My friend told me on the first day of Umang that why don't we try our luck at the competition. I saw a lady sitting there. She asked me, 'why dont you register yourself and try winning the contest?'. I agreed and accepted the challange. I made up my mind that I would win the prize. So for that I went home and took off the buttons of my t-shirt which were made of plastic. Then I went to the market & brought a neem stick to brush my teeth. Now the next morning I got up and brushed my teeth with the neem stick. Then unwantedly I did not take a bath , wore my clothes and came for Umang by train, because I thought that there would be lots of plastic items that I would come across. I reached Umang at 11:00am, where they had given me a form to fill. But unfourtuntely I cound fill it up with a pen because it was made of plastic nor did I have a pencil with me. After asking many people I still did not manage to get a pencil, so I had to write out the form with something else.After searching a lot I got a carbon paper and a iron nail,with which i filled up the form. The experience was great cause, it was really sporty. But only one message I would like to say that you wouldn't stay without touching plastic for a day because each and everything is made of plastic..."

Gaurav Arun Thakur

Here is the comment of Mr.T.M.Jethani, one of the visitors to the ICPE stall: "Very important information given to me regarding usage of plastics as an environmental issue. Doing excellent work in the field of environmental protection".

So, what do you think about plastics now? According to you, are they still the same hazards posing a threat to the environment and should be banned as soon as possible or are they such without which modern human life is incomplete and progress is impossible? Should attempts like the one by ICPE, to educate the younger generation, which is being brain-washed by myths and misconceptions about plastics, be encouraged or should such attempts be curbed considering them to be mere attempts by some ignorant admirers of plastics, to avoid the extinction of plastics from the face of the earth? To let us know about you opinion click here.

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