July 3 is celebrated as Plastic bag-free Day 2020 globally. This day sees justice as Amazon India recently scrapped single-use plastic for packaging purposes across all its centers.
According to a Reuters report, the e-commerce giant said that in addition to replacing packaging materials such as bubble wraps and air pillows with “paper cushions”, it had also swapped out packaging tapes with other bio-degradable options.
“We have successfully eliminated single-use plastic in all our fulfillment centers a 100%,” Akhil Saxena, vice-president of customer fulfillment for the APAC, LATAM and Middle East and North Africa regions, said in an interview.
India, with a population of 1.3 billion is struggling to curb and reject the use of plastic. The challenge here is that plastic has become an indispensible part of our lives and it will take stringent policy measures and citizen cooperation to manage the disposal of plastic. The lack of an effective system for plastic waste disposal is polluting our water bodies and slaying the aquatic life.
What Are Single-Use Plastics?
The Natural Resources Defense Council defines Single-use plastic as: put simply, single-use plastics are goods that are made primarily from fossil fuel–based chemicals (petrochemicals) and are meant to be disposed of right after use—often, in mere minutes. Single-use plastics are most commonly used for packaging and serviceware, such as bottles, wrappers, straws, and bags.
In October 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called on citizens to help end the usage of single-use plastic – seen as a pollutant – by 2022.
So, let’s resolve to reject the toxic menace of single-use plastic and take steps towards becoming a plastic-free nation.
Do your bit!