Plastic Littering

In 2019, I had a marvelous opportunity to trek into the deep of Bandarban hilly tracks where I witnessed the ultimate beauty of Bangladesh landscapes. I Bathed in the mighty waterfalls, felt the swift breeze of the famed jhum lands, savored the warm acceptability of the tribal people, devoured the heavenly papayas and above all, spectated the ultimate dazzling sights of the galaxy at nights. Words cannot describe the peace and tranquility we experienced those days – would love to go again!

Although the nature has always been kind and plentiful to us, we haven’t been gracious towards them. From Dhaka to the deep of Bandarbans, one common behavior we observed – throwing cigarette butts, coffee cups, chips packets, plastic bottles – anything that has been used NOT INTO the garbage bin – but on the streets, lands, even in the water. Although there are dumpsters nearby – everybody is reluctant to use them. I asked a person who has just thrown his poly bag into the dirt at the bus stop at Cumilla – that he should have used the penguin disguised bin written “USE ME” just 2 feet away from his current position, he replied in disgust that it was not our concern – hence depicting the modern mentality.

Anyhow, with colorful dreams, we continued our journey towards Bandarbans and reached Thanchi in an open hooded jeep – which was a rollercoaster of emotions. Our guide was waiting for us, and after a quick refreshment and briefings – we started our trekking which covered roughly 75 kilometers in 4 days. We relished the colors of wildflowers, chirping of unknown birds and undoubtedly, the blood sucking experience of leeches, which made our journey bloodier than ever. Although we observed variety of scenery and passed rough terrains, one aspect was common – Yes you guessed it right, the plastics and unused foils laying around the fountains, peeking from the muds, floating on the streams, and stuck between branches, a complete massacre of our beloved green earth.

What are the reasons behind these unappreciable habits of people? What made us so callous that we don’t feel guilty while plastic littering and letting our ecosystem in danger?

The answer is, inadequacy of knowledge regarding the adverse effect of plastic on environment along with lives associated with it and the mindset of “One plastic bag will do not harm, someone else will pick it up”. In modern world, the most common type of littering is the simplest things we throw away unintentionally – cigarette butts, biscuit and chips packet, food wrappers, plastic cups, and one-time useable plates, see through plastic bags, straws etcetera. Plastic littering severely affects the soil, water, animals and even humans. I have personally observed such a horrific event when a stray cow suddenly died of unknown reasons.  Later it was revealed that, the cow suffered intoxication as she ate plastic bags which eventually costed her life. Every year, thousands of such poor animals, both in land and in water, suffer due to plastic poisoning. Who are to blame? We are! We created these issues.

While a plastic product takes more than 400 years to biodegrade, it affects organism in the food chains which not only intoxicates plants and animals, but also to humans as they consume the intoxicated food. Plastic waste can make a beautiful landscape into a garbage disposal site, a tourist spot into an unprofitable business, healthy wildlife and sea creatures into miserable ones, a fruitful land into futile barren site, a natural green future into plasticky grey ones.

Now, one may question out of frustration, “Is there nothing we can do? Is it too late? Can’t this be reversed?”, the answer is “YES”. There are many outstanding examples which will encourage us and will make us optimists regarding this situation. In 2017, Indian environmental activist Afroz Shah Foundation removed more than 12,000 tonnes of filth from Versova Beach, Mumbai which took 96 weeks and thousands of volunteers and made a milestone towards green world. They believed in the motto: “Anything can be cleaned” and because of their dedication, hundreds and thousands of sea turtles now hatch on the beach. To mitigate this urgent issue, the focus point should be to educate mass population about the adverse effect of plastic pollution – in fact any kind of pollution. Firstly, we can use best available route to educate people through social medias – Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, Linkedin and all other platforms, also through cultural events in educational and professional institutions and above all, through family principles. Secondly, we can practice and influence others to keep one’s surrounding clean. We must create culture to carry our used plastics with us so that we can disperse them either in a bin or labelled areas. Again, recycling of plastics should be easy, prompt, and inexpensive service so that everybody would enjoy to follow recycle procedures. Many countries, such as Singapore, Denmark, Malaysia follow strict rules to maintain cleanliness in their cities and penalize anyone who breaks the directives. These types of initiatives should be taken by the Government and national schemes should be introduced to spread the good culture amongst the general people of all class.

The earth has been our guardian since evolution of nature, and we all constantly are consuming her resources to live. It is our duty to take care of the only place in the galaxy where we can breathe and inhabit in a balanced ecosystem. EQMS Consulting Limited has always been wary about these issues and takes necessary steps and promotes activities in favor of environmental benefits. Every year, EQMS team visits Saint Martins Island to promote the cleanliness and biodiversity of marine life and collects plastic rubbish to maintain the sparseness of this beautiful island. If everyone, every organization follows simple tidiness and mentality to keep our environment healthy, it will be not too far when we will again be able to enjoy the true enchant of our country, hence our world.