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 wouldnt 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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