Make the plastic and waste burning bans inclusive

Of late the city of Doon is talking about two bans. Plastic ban and banning burning of waste. Both valid and desperately required. With the ban the discourse shifts to its implementation which undoubtedly is poor. The problem is that the discourse needs to shift to why should the ban not be followed by all voluntarily and why should there be the need to enforce it with checks, raids, fines etc.

The main issue about the bans is lack of inclusiveness. It is very easy for the affluent citizens to give up plastic in favour of more expensive alternatives. Similarly waste segregation and disposal is not a problem for the well heeled. But take a look at the vast majority of Doonites and you will immediately understand why the ban is not accepted voluntarily. And let me immediately debunk the myth that the not so well off do not understand the problems of plastic and burning. They do but do they have an alternative? Have we thought of these bans from the viewpoint of vast majority and tried to make them inclusive.

What does a family who save some money to celebrate the birthday of their child do? Not buy plastic cup, plate but buy alternative stuff which could be more expensive or more difficult and too time consuming to handle? And what is the alternative that is cheap and easily available? Is it there? Does the family even know about it? What does the same family do when they are asked to segregate waste? Buy three bins? And then also worry about disposal as there is no efficient disposal system? First find a kabadiwallah who buys plastic or tetrapacks. Then worry about composting the kitchen waste? And there is no guarantee that the nagar nigam will collect the non recyclable waste from him regularly. Now tell me is that an ideal situation for the vast majority of our residents who have more important matters like daily livelihood and who therefore deprioritise plastic ban or waste segregation?  

The bans are required but these must be accompanied by inclusive measures. Provide plastic alternatives which are cheap and widely available. Provide efficient waste collection system. Mobilise the ragpickers ward wise to collect recyclables from household on a daily basis. Let every citizen or household not get into composting but get composting pits built ward wise or get compostable materials picked up as separate trash and get delivered to industries that need compost. Let NGOs work with nagar nigam for efficient removal of the same. Let nagar nigam build an efficient system to collect non recyclable waste everyday from each household. The aim has to be to make the ban voluntarily and not forceful implementaion

Do we protest too much?

No sooner than the ban on plastic was announced in Uttarakhand, various traders & merchants started opposing it. The RTO proposed strict safety rules for auto rickshaws and vans carrying school children. Not only the autorickshaw owners & unions protested against it but so did the parents. The High Court finally ordered a time bound anti encroachment drive. Not only our elected representatives opposed it but the government brought in a new rule, trying to keep the huge numbers of encroachers on our rivers out of the court order. Now an old ruling of compulsory wearing of helmets for pillion riders is going to be implemented and the protests have again started.

Maybe we suffer from a disease called “protestitis”. As a society we seem to be becoming more of protestors than of implementors. Without any doubt the essence of democracy is the right of every viewpoint to be heard. But democracy also means rising above selfish viewpoint and look at the good of the society as a whole. At the moment this is the one thing missing from our thinking. But what surprises me more is our inability to rise beyond our selfish interests. I would have thought that parents should be happy that the authorities are trying to ensure the safety of their children’s transport. But the idea of the transporters raising the charges maybe have the parents worried more than the safety of the child. Or the fact that plastic is endangering our future is less intimidating than the thought of we becoming more industrious and use recycleable alternatives.

I also suspect that we are still grappling with the Raj hangover. It has been hard wired into our brains that authority is bad. They cannot do anything good. We must look at them suspiciously. We fail to understand that it is we ourselves who have voted those who are in power. So now let us allow them to do their jobs too. Analyse their actions, scrutinise their deeds, ask questions. Protest. But do not let our narrow vested interests rise above those of the society as a whole.

Or is it our “chalta hai” attitude? Do we really think that our children are being transported safely at the moment? Not many accidents have happened does not mean many may not happen. Is the convenience of plastic more important than the future of our existence? Are helmets and the lives of our loved ones less important than the thought of buying another helmet. Why should even one death occour because of not wearing a helmet? Why should we see our nallahs and rivers and animals being choked with plastic? Just because it has been happening and we have been living with it?

We should be complimenting the courts, the RTO and other authorities who are taking some tough measures. We want our state, our country to be the best? Then let’s rise above our selfish agendas and get into action mode. Let’s ditch our chalta hai attitude and usher in change.