Glittering Litters! Throw-Away Anywhere?

Agnes Krocha 

Walk less than half a mile, any day, in Kohima town. You are very likely to witness the “throw-away anywhere culture” of our society. Buy some chewing gums (Centre Fresh if you like!), hop into a bus or a car with people (educated or illiterate), and pass on the gum. It’s a lucky day if none of those, who chewed the gum, threw its wrapper out of the bus or the car window. Does anybody care, where the wrapper, lands flying out of the car window from your hand?? We throw them out but where do they go?

I don’t think I will forget that afternoon, traveling on a bus with a non-naga friend in a city, when I threw a sweet wrapper out of the bus window. My friend was in for a shock. She looked at me straight in the eye saying, “How could you do that?” and went on to say, “Aren’t you a Christian?” Moral of the story: don’t throw sweet wrappers out of the bus window if you are a Christian. I’m kidding! I guessed my friend expected me to care about where my sweet wrapper landed because I believe in a God who cares. 

It makes so much sense that we care about these seemingly trivial things. For ‘little drops of water’ still ‘make a mighty ocean’ and ‘Littering sweet wrappers can surely make a dirty nation’. Walking on our streets any day, it is not a rare sight to see, sweet wrappers messing up the streets, racing along with vehicles, clogging up the drains and gutters and flying in the air on a windy day creating a sore sight.

Caring about where we throw our little wastes does not only have aesthetic value but it can save lives. There are about 80 diseases caused by water borne germs, and only one or two pieces of plastic sweet wrappers is enough to block a drain causing water logging which in turn becomes a breeding ground for bacteria that cause these diseases.

The more serious thing about most of our plastic sweet wrappers is that they are not biodegradable, which causes serious environmental and health problems. When sweet wrappers fly and land in agricultural land, it retards the growth of the crops by wrapping itself around the plants. When present in the soil for long, it stops the passage of oxygen causing soil infertility.

Mingled with grass, domestic animals like cows and goats can die after swallowing bits of plastic made sweet wrappers.

That’s why serious environmental problems can be averted if we give importance to little things such as caring about disposing our little sweet wrappers. The hallmark of environmental ethics is the appreciation of our “Moral Responsibility” towards the environment. 

Next time you unwrap a gum, give a thought before you drop/throw away its wrapper. Don’t be a litter bug! Don’t drop/throw wrappers anywhere and stop others from doing so. If you don’t find a waste bin immediately, keep the wrapper with you until you find one. For people with creative hands, you can cut sweet wrappers into bits and stuff cute pillows, cushions or soft toys with it. It works, I’ve tried it.

(The writer has done M.Sc (Environmental Science and Technology) and B.Ed. She also writes and teaches science in a High School)
aggiekrocha@gmail.com