THOSE FLASHY - FANCY SACHETS - POLLUTING PEOPLE AND PLANET

Ozone Day: Sep. 16, 2024 

In four days, a stretch of 150 metres on the Lakhimpur by-pass road through Naipalapur, was cleared of plastic litter - Every day about 30 to 40 minutes were spent on that.  The total collection amounted to about 3 kilos. 

The major component was the empty sachets of gutkha - a series of them  The next item that topped the collection was the namkeens and kurmure (what is generally termed 'mixture' in India).  They appeared concentrated in two or three spots, and often accompanied by plastic glasses - it is an easy guess that such spots away from busy streets, and with an appealing backdrop like the structure of the college building become easily free and open bars (without any bar-rier).  I observed that the glasses get degraded by being torn into pieces - most likely on their own.  The gutkha sachets appeared to be a mix of paper and plastic and seemed to get degraded over a period of time.  But some of them are definitely plastic itself.  Then there were wrappers of biscuits, toffees, some plastic carry bags (often in the company of the plastic glasses and the namkeen packets).  I noticed the disposable snack box distributed on the freshers' day.  They are paper and biodegradable, however, the plastic coating make them remain longer, and that part not degradable - but they make the grass  patch an eyesore.  There are a few rose buds with the typical plastic wrap - the buds are almost decomposed, but the wraps remain steady.  I get 2 slippers - not a pair, but 2 separate ones, either thrown off while riding a bike or so, or discarded as they were in bad repair. There was a discarded plastic sack (bori) which was the most massive stuff on the stretch. And on the 7th day, I found a freshly thrown Amul Flavoured Buttermilk packet - that someone is drinking a healthy drink as well!! 

Biodiversity amidst Filth It was not very pleasant doing this, with the grass and surroundings wet from rain and some animal poop deposited here and there. I was glad to see a tiny Rana tigrina on the grass - my first spotting after coming to Sitapur. It sat fearlessly near me, as I continued my litter-picking. I also noticed some toadlets jumping around. I spotted two quills of Porcupine (syaahi) indicating the richness of biodiversity in the area. 

I had initially thought of doing this in a fashionable manner with a litter-picker from amazon available in the range of Rs. 195 to 2000 plus. However, then I thought I could do better - got from the kitchen a few carry bags that have landed there thanks to the shopping done by our own people, who take the easy way of going hands-free to the fruit or veg shop and get back with additional disposable carry bags. I used one of them as a glove and another as a collection bag, and managed the whole thing without additional waste material being generated. 

The simple collection of four days showed that this is manageable, provided each individual or organisation takes the responsibility to keep the roadside in front of one's home or institution litter-free. 

After a day's gap, I went on another scouting - yielding 'rich dividends'. In two days, our Sitapur citizens, mostly male I trust, have managed to yield another 500 gms in that small patch.  I must confess that perhaps, 30% of this collection was on account of the sunny day releasing some more of those material otherwise stuck to soil or embedded in the grass. In addition, thanks to a first step of a proposal now pending for a year - that of beautifying this stretch by planting perennial shrubs - was initiated by digging the pits for planting, which yielded from each such pit, almost the same materials which had now gone down under in the past one year - only that they were much more soiled or muddied, but with hardly any sign of degredation. 

On the 7th day, it's happy news - the one-year-old proposal for green beautification is finally taking shape - 51 saplings of plumeria, prepared on the campus nursery have been planted on the stretch. Hope it will be further purplified with the addition of Coleus plectranthus.

Polluting Tasks: Our staff, Mr Amrendra Kumar Bharti, on the fourth day of my campaign approaches me, and gently presents a request: Can I make a request without offending you? I said 'Go ahead', fearing some requests for his facilities in the job are going to be presented. Thankfully, no. He says, 'Father, please don't do this.' Implying, this is a menial task, not to be done by the Principal of the college. I am relieved. But replied: 'No, Amrendar. Every task is worth doing. Keeping one's premises clean is a sacred task.'  And without being asked, Amrendar also contributes a little, though still not being very happy about it. 

On the last day, at the gate is our staff Mr Manoj.  He also contributes in his own fashion by picking up the litter around his post. 

Post Campaign: Day 8 gave a rough idea of daily littering volume - I picked up some 40 pieces - of which around 30 of gutkha, and the rest chiefly namkeen packets.

Day 9 - still easier - It took just 10 mts to clear though some 40 pieces of discarded tiny toughies were collected. 

Appreciation: Of course, an older person, rather civilly dressed, picking up litter is noticed by anyone. A few gave an appreciating glance, some others just being curious. One bike rider slows down, and says good words. However, no one is curious to come and stop by and ask questions. 

Enriching the Economy? The collection led me to the realization of this mega industry  and its range of products in India.  In 2022 it was thought to have a market value of around 4.1 million crore rupees and set to grow @ 5% p.a. for another decade. 

I found to my surprise, so many brands of them, polluting people and the planet  I compiled this list from a survey of the trash I gathered these days - and I am sure, the list is not exhaustive.  

• Aunty sweet 
• Dilbhagh Plus
• Kamala Pasand
• Kishore
• National
• Ojaswi 2
• Pan bahaar
• Pan paraag
• Pass pass
• Rajashree gold
• Shreeram superfast*
• Signature
• Silverline
• SNK pan masala
• Sweety supari
• Tinku Supari
• Work

Of the lot, 'Kishore' appeared more popular from the amount of litter collected. 

Polluting People & Planet - A Polluting Culture: This non-smoke tobacco product is usually made of crushing areca nut, paraffin wax, tobacco, slaked lime, and catechu with some sweet and savoury flavourings. The user stands a chance of being an oral cancer victim 400 times more than someone who does not use it. It is also said to be addictive. 

I would say that these mini-plastic pieces do add significantly to plastic pollution of the land and waters in the whole of North India, and the malaise is spreading to the South as well. Good habits are not transferred so fast!  Being small in size they easily get embedded in the soil, and make the soil 'plastic-rich' with all possible consequences of any or many of those already identified one thousand plus chemicals leaching into the soil and water systems, threatening the health of all beings. 

A google search reveals that almost all the states of India have banned 'gutkha', however, it is found freely available in all places. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutka. So, it means it is hardly ever enforced, and most likely, a good number of those who are supposed to enforce it are habituated to it.  The youth, mainly men (I assume so), are easily getting attracted to it, and addicted to it. 

Two practices are corollary to the use of gutkha (i) the users invariably litter the sachet adding to plastic pollution - I made an assessment from this outing. Perhaps, I gathered the litter strewn by about 500 people. For each of them, it might have been just a matter of a second or a few - tearing the sachet, emptying it, and then littering it.  Perhaps, altogether a work of 25 minutes - for me this took almost 4 hours - a half typical workday, perhaps by national average, worth a labour of Rs 500.00.  But the task is onerous, cumbersome - if only, people are educated not to litter. (ii) almost all of them go around spitting indiscriminately - making places dirty and becoming a likely cause of spreading illnesses. 

For Better or Worse? One thing I observed was that cigarette/bidi packets were hardly there - a drastic change when compared to the prevalent tobacco culture 2 decades plus back. Is the gutkha culture better or worse than the cigarette/bidi culture is to be assessed. Evidently, passive pollution (smoking) is avoided in this case.  But impacts on personal health, public hygiene and plastic pollution are to factored in to have a proper assessment. 

Solutions:

From the experience of 5 days to keep the area clean, plastic and litter-free, I found that there are several ways in which this can be addressed. 

1. Local bodies have to make this a priority and enact regulations which with a collective political will, can easily be implemented. However, this is very less likely, as many of them local body members themselves might be slaves to this. 

2. In case, this is made a priority, as cow protection is made a priority by many of the North Indian states, local bodies and police force, this can be attained through civic participation. (While cow protection may be a spiritually and religiously ennobling act, the means employed can never be approved, usually, violence involving even murder of people assumed to be culprits, through 'crowd justice'. The question of the value of human life versus the lives of other beings arises: whether all lives are equally valuable, and even if so, whether the destruction of another life can be justified as compensation for the loss of a life, if that is a fait accompli).  If Modiji's nara 'swacchata hi sewa and swacch bharat' should ring true, this national culture should change. 

However, there could be empowered voluntary groups who are authorised to penalise the defaulters with proper evidence, either on the spot or through the police and they could be incentivised for the same.  I would say any such act of littering should be penalised by Rs. 5.00 which is usually the cost of a sachet of gutkha. 

3. On the other hand, these huge profit-making companies also could be penalised for the litter produced by their products. They have to ensure that the product-related waste is not littered in the public space. They have to either make the packing environment-friendly (bio-degradable) or pay the price for pollution caused by them. If the 'Telegram' founder could be penalised for not preventing the likely harmful use of the medium, similar steps should be taken regarding any products that come into the market - that they do not adversely affect the environment. 

4. Yes, long-term measures leading to sustainable solutions lie in 'catching them young' through education - lessons in the lower classes, value education, orientation to the teachers and monitoring that such education is happening and that the educational institutions are free from the menace through campus code of conduct and campus value education.  Side by side, there should be community education as well. 

The change in tobacco smoking habit on the campuses over the last 3 decades is quite visible. A staff or student smoking on the campus is now almost unthinkable.  A similar measure is to be introduced regarding this. 

5. Local bodies can encourage institutions and individuals to ensure that the public place adjoining their property is kept litter free, and incentivise such efforts through tax rebates or some such other recognition annually. This requires the involvement of local representatives, neighbourhood groups (POs) and Residence Associations. 

*These 'thugs' have not spared even Shreeram, and surprisingly, no vigilantes arise against the abuse of the Lord's name for a villainous product.  And there is one with a 'national' tag as well.