Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Meet green warriors who walk out of functions where food is served in disposable plastic cutlery. They carry a steel plate and glass in their bags to avoid plastic use.
And they never forget to carry cloth bags when they go for shopping. On the eve of World Environment Day themed on, beat plastic pollution, this year, Free Press spoke to some of them. Excerpts:
Walk out of weddings, b’days
Uma Shankar Tiwari |
Uma Shankar Tiwari (57), who works for the state government’s Weights and Measures Department, has walked out of wedding, birthday and housewarming parties because he found food served in plastic bowls, glasses and plates. And when his son got married recently, he didn’t get invitation cards printed. “I saved paper and trees and also a couple of litres of fossil fuel that would have been burnt for distributing the cards,” he said. The tenants renting a portion of his house promised him that they would shun single-use plastic.
Planted 3.53 lakh saplings
Sunil & Sudha Dubey |
Sunil Dubey (67), a former state government official and his retired school teacher wife Sudha Dubey (64) shunned single-use plastic in 2012. They get bags stitched using old cotton clothes, jeans and bedsheets with straps made of ‘niwar’ and distributes them for free. They have gifted 10,000 bags so far. Plants and cotton bags are the only items they gift at weddings and other functions. The couple has, so far, planted 3.53 lakh saplings in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar.
Better safe than sorry
Mridul Tyagi |
Mridul Tyagi (65), who retired United India Insurance Company manager realised how harmful plastic was when the doctor treating her aunt, who had cancer, told her not to eat food cooked or heated in microwave ovens as the bowls used in them are made of plastic. She doesn’t use single-use plastic at all and carries cloth bags when shopping. She also writes poems and stories for children on what harms environment and how can earth be protected with little changes in lifestyle. “Better safe than sorry,” she says.
Planting saplings for 20 years
Meera Sharma |
Teacher Meera Sharma (62) goes around the local markets, persuading chat-wallahs to use steel plates to serve dishes. She also visits temples to request sellers of prasad, coconut, flowers etc to use paper bags instead of plastic ones. She has been planting saplings for over 20 years. With her students, she stages street plays themed on environmental protection. And whenever she goes to a party, she carries a steel plate, bowl, spoon and glass in her bag to take food.
