Plastic Archives

Why You Can’t Ban Single-Use Plastic Overnight

A ban on single-use plastic is not something that can be achieved simply by carrying a reusable cloth bag to do your sabzi shopping. The ban will be successful only when a few basics are taken care of: Public awareness campaigns, investing in alternatives, creating an efficient recycling process, and then, systematically, creating economic incentives to switch from plastics.

Deepak Gopalakrishnan July 16, 2016

Earth

What’s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way

Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I’m too tired to fight the battle. It’s hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it’s worth it.

Tapshi Dhanda June 19, 2016

Earth

What Will it Take to End Our Toxic Affair With Plastic?

How do you say goodbye to something you’ve known your entire life? After all, plastic is almost like an honorary family member in most middle-class households. But, to paraphrase Spider Man, “With great awareness, comes great responsibility.”

Dushyant Shekhawat May 9, 2016

Earth

Hey Instagram Tourist, Here’s What the Trash You Leave Behind Is Doing to Our Holiday Hotspots

Tourist trash is becoming a global emergency. In Nepal, 11 tonnes of garbage was collected from the Everest, which included everything from empty oxygen canisters to shrapnel. Manali turns into dump yards every holiday season, and in Goa, almost every beach has been vandalised by garbage.

Nikhil Inamdar May 4, 2016

Fashion

Ditch the Plastic: How To Make Your Own Eco-Friendly Shampoo and Soap At Home

Almost a year ago, I made a decision that my essentials will no longer involve 50 first dates with plastic. Thanks to the winding rabbit hole of the zero waste YouTube universe, I figured out ways to ensure that my skin was plastic-free. Now I make my own shampoo, soap, and face-wash. You can too.

Shruti Sunderraman April 18, 2016

Earth

Life After Plastic. It’s Fantastic

Years before plastic became pervasive, you went to buy ration swinging a cloth bag. The local butcher wrapped up your mutton in yesterday’s newspaper. But plastic adapted itself like a shape-shifting hydra to suit our urban needs.

Aparna joshi March 26, 2016