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Young World
CELEBRATES A DAY
Are you a green consumer?
RAJESWARI NAMAGIRI
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Excessive consumption can be directly linked to environmental pollution.
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Attractive packaging: How environment-friendly are they?
September 28 is Green Consumer Day. Climate change, global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, problem of garbage, menace of plastics, all invariably have one thing in common — they can be directly or indirectly linked to excessive consumption!
All of us are consumers of a variety of finished goods: flour, oil, soap, detergent, biscuits and so on. Next time you come home from a shopping trip, take a closer look at what you have bought. With the necessary items, you have also bought stuff that is actually of no direct use. Yes, we are talking about the packaging. The more goods we buy, the more packaging we are left to deal with.
Unique
Nature’s own packaging is unique. Think of how nature has packaged a banana, a pomegranate, a ear of corn, a coconut… We package goods to keep microbes, pests and adulterators at bay; to increase the shelf-life, give information about manufacturing date, ingredients, batch and contact details.
But packaging is also made more attractive for another reason — to make it irresistible, and to make us buy more. Stores also pack goods in plastic carry bags to take home.
But unlike nature we don’t know how to deal with our packaging material. While a cow will eat the peel or microbes will help it vanish, the plastic, foam and glass cannot disappear through natural processes. Waste piles up in garbage dumps. Packaging is now a problem.
Children’s Media Unit, Centre for Environment Education. www.kidsrgreen.org
Act Now
Practise the key Rs.
1. Reduce wasteful
consumption
2. Recycle and reuse.
3. Refuse plastics and
unnecessary packaging.
Carry your own cloth bag.
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