During this year’s Gandhi Jayanti celebrations all throughout the country, it has been plastic and its most troubling variant, Single Use Plastic that has received an overarching importance with calls to bring an end to its wide use. Not only during this special day, the roar against plastic had got louder over years and during last few months it has been strikingly noticeably. There were speculations that something very big about SUP is going to be announced on October 2 and preparations by the immediate stakeholders comprising administration, industry and related others were also going along with. Although nothing of that sort has been announced on that date and till now, it’s almost sure that embargoes on plastic are in the offing and will come into play sooner or later. Whether it will be in a phased manner or at one go is entirely the prerogative of government. But the aspect that is gradually becoming the centre-stage of discussions now is what will be the scenario after the ban and what are the means available at hand to take the nation from an overwhelmingly plastic dependent stage to an era sans plastic. It’s really ‘at the crossroads’ like stage right now and for all practical purposes, it is going to be an onerous as well as delicate task altogether for a desirably smooth transition. Nevertheless, one thing is certain, there will now be desperate searches for alternatives and surely there will be no dearth of them all across the length and breadth of the country.

The journey of plastic in India has been of roaring success due to various factors. If its cheap price is the principal one, lack of implementation of various restrictive rules have resulted in its omnipresent footprint. And in process, great harm has already been done to environment by choking  of rivers, oceans, drains and other water bodies,  all being the background reasons for floods, land, soil, water & air pollution and various other disruptions of nature. In the process, the nation has almost forgotten that there exists various bio-degradable means by way of jute, natural starches and vegetable wastes inputs, canvas, plain and simple cloth etc. Plastic no doubt has so far pushed them to near-extinction and in a strange turn of fortunes, these are the items that will turn out to be real rescuers. For achieving ‘freedom’ from plastic, there is perhaps no option now but to take refuge to natural materials for packaging in the approaching days.

If elimination of plastic is important, giving extra stimulus to these alternatives must be of the equal magnitude. It will only be then this switch-over can be less troublesome.