Friday, June 27, 2008

Say No To Plastics

The following is a presentation I had developed for addressing a group Students of the Ashok Leyland School, Hosur, Tamil Nadu. The idea for developing this presentation came about from an article in an old issue of National Geographic (Sept 2003), which I picked up from a street vendor in Bangalore the day prior to the programme. Never did i realise that it would become such a widely appreciated presentation from far and wide.

I've uploaded the presentation in the form of a movie with music and posting it below.




13 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is a good video but according to my teacher the plastic recycling cost per ton is wrong (maybe you added extra zero by mistake, Rs 1.72 lakh per ton is too high)

Please correct it or give source of data. thanks very much.

Anonymous said...

Compelling, presentation thanks. Just wanted to point out that it mentions Singapore among the
countries that 'have banned or are planning to ban plastic bags'. The use of the 'or' and omission of necessary qualifiers makes this less than true, in the case of Singapore.

The facts: Plastic bags is a big problem here in per-capita terms and it is only very recently that reusable bags have been promoted, and many of these are currently made of woven plastic (!), and not cloth (but are indeed reusable). There is a plan to ban FREE plastic bags -- see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2205419.stm -- which is not the same thing as banning plastic bags. However, I have also come across a recent petition on the web to call for a ban on plastic bags in Singapore:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/ban-plastic-bags-in-singapore.html

Ramjee said...

Dear Anonymous friend,
The cost of recycling is true and correct one and quoted from a National Geographic Issue Sept 2003 Issue. In India, this may "appear" less, may be because we do not calculate any cost for the rag pickers...

Anonymous said...

Really you've done a great thing. I am now only (after reading that post) I realized that horrible effect which is caused by plastic. I knew the harmfulness of plastic then also I used to accept plastic bags from shop. But now onwards I wont do like that. Actually your mail made me to think in absolutely correct way.

I will try my best to avoid plastic bags...
Definitely I will do that...
Once again I am telling you thanks!!

Anonymous said...

The presentation is very motivating thing for saving our environment. Even though I knew that plastic is harmful for whole living beings. But I didn’t think that this much it will affect so dangerously. I am so thankful to you that you created a great thing and it made me to think about our environment.
Already I said NO TO PLASTIC.

Anonymous said...

I am working for HCL technologies, Bangalore. Thanks for the effort you have put India in making plastic free. I have already started this. But I got this mail today, so never mind. Will start doing it and will even

Educate others in not using the plastic. Thanks for reminding the duties of and Indian to have a pollution free India.

Thanks again and congratulations. Soon we are going to see plastic free India. Nothing is impossible.

Anonymous said...

I am happy that you have put so many statistics together. Well the real use of going through the presentation or reflecting on it cant be just satisfied by forwarding this mail to someone else. If you are belonging to and NGO working for environment then please make it a point to put this forward to someone who can decide to ban the bags.

In Niligiris district where I come from there are no plastic bags or at least its announced officially that plastic bags are banned.

If you really want to make a difference then please take it forward and stop the production through government. Any ways what ever is produced will still be used.

Good luck sir! I did like your presentation. I will contribute my part by avoiding usage of plastic bags..

Anonymous said...

I am happy that you have put so many statistics together. Well the real use of going through the presentation or reflecting on it cant be just satisfied by forwarding this mail to someone else. If you are belonging to and NGO working for environment then please make it a point to put this forward to someone who can decide to ban the bags.

In Niligiris district where I come from there are no plastic bags or at least its announced officially that plastic bags are banned.

If you really want to make a difference then please take it forward and stop the production through government. Any ways what ever is produced will still be used.

Good luck sir! I did like your presentation. I will contribute my part by avoiding usage of plastic bags..

Anonymous said...

A very insightful presentation. I have resolved to myself today (finally) to stop using plastic bags, in spite of watching this campaign for several days by several people/organisations; yours had the most powerful delivery of the message till date on me.

I know that's not excuse to not stop it earlier; just the way human mind works.... until you are hard hit in the mind, it does not resolve into convictions.

Meena Venkataraman said...

Very insightful!
Just a thought - Notice that consumption patterns are more with the educated middle class than with any other section. A visit to any supermarket will confirm this.
Have you ever thought of presenting this data at a super market buy collaborating with them?

-Meena

Unknown said...

can u pls let me know if u have guilines as to how a group of students could create awareness against the use of plastic bags.

sat said...

Plastics will not go away. Thin Plastic bags production may stop. KK Plastic Waste Mgmt Bangalore & Thyagrajar Engg College Madurai have used Bitumen mixed (fixed amount) with waste plastics in road Building. Bangalore has 1000 km, TN 1500 kms rural green rds (modified Bitumen). Project in TN was under Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojna PMGSY.Work has been tested , approved by CRRI, Min Env Forests.Several states have shown interest since the finished road with modified Bitumen has better rd properties than earlier. No pot holes, longer life of 6 -10 yrs.Can use thin or thick any plastics.
SAY NO TO Plastic carry bags. At the same time spread the message to reduce existence of carry bags by finding out avenues of using waste plastics.
May be some innovation may result

Renee LaCombe said...

Thank you so much, Ramjee. I have cloth bags, but have not gotten in the habit of using them. I'm finished with plastic NOW. Thank you!