Image by Dinh Khoi Nguyen from Pixabay
Trinav Prasad Talukdar
“It’ll be cleaned by tomorrow.”
Heard this phrase often? Said it often? Chances are, if you live in India like I do, you are quite familiar with this saying in your own language. It has some part to play in the fact that India generates approximately 9.4 million tonnes of plastic waste per annum: a staggering 26 thousand tonnes per day (according to a report from the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, 2019). The Mismanaged Plastic Waste Index, a 2023 report by Environmental Action, ranks India at fourth place globally.
A scenic, captivating view getting corrupted by sights of garbage is a common experience in the country, practically unavoidable now. Littering has become such a prominent issue within our society that it can be considered an integral facet of our modern culture, one to not take any jingoistic pride in. Despite numerous efforts to curb the garbage menace and push for a cleaner India, progress has been slow, unimpactful in many cases and even counterproductive in some. To take an example, our country has had a long history of failure stories when it comes to setting up waste-to-energy plants. 14 plants have been set up thus far, out of which, half have discontinued service. In some instances, they faced negative reception from the public in the form of protests. This was due to their inefficient functioning and management which only resulted in more pollution. Rapid rates of urbanisation have exacerbated this predicament even further. Today, municipal corporations of cities across the country face the gargantuan task of managing waste disposal in an environment where the rate of influx of waste is equally as overwhelming as that at which the country is developing. But a country cannot truly develop side-by-side with the increase in garbage on the streets.
One angle of the matter, that we still seem hesitant to address at a significant scale, is the aspect of behavioural factors. It is often because we find ourselves facing the need to take accountability for our own past actions. But the longer we take to condemn our distasteful societal and individual practices, the more trash continues to pile up. Simply put, people love to play the game of blame when it comes to garbage. When people litter, they assume that someone else will clean it up for them. This imaginary entity could refer to a janitor, or it could be government officials. Either way, people do not see the need to show regard for the cleanliness and environmental sanctity of their surroundings because they do not consider themselves responsible for keeping it intact. A 2010 paper on public opinion and awareness on waste management, by Italian researchers, Giovanni De Feoa and Sabino De Gisi confirmed the unspoken obvious: irregardless of their level of awareness and education, the public acts nonchalant towards the wider issues related to waste disposal until they are affected by it personally. Preachers don’t practice. This notion is more strongly reinforced and observed in India than perhaps most other places in the world. Our household principles are known for having a recurring theme of cleanliness, yet our public areas are a desolate mess. This is a sign that there is a major lapse in the sense of community and communal regard in the mind of an average Indian. Despite all the talk of unity in diversity, we fail to stand united when it comes to keeping our surroundings unscathed.
Picking up your own trash is considered in our society as a sign of lacking status. Cleaning up is a job suited only for those who barely make ends meet. For the rest of us, nature is a canvas to be painted with trash. Some people are so committed to these preposterous ways, that they would rather leave a beautiful sight degraded to a feverish eyesore than walk a kilometre to the next trash bin. This appears to be a lingering trait arising out of norms set in the country’s historical social structure, that continues to plague the public attitude to this day. Ironically, the act of cleaning is equated to the act of contaminating oneself. When people recognise a spot, elegant or otherwise, that is already littered to complete depravity, they don’t see the point in acting as saviours or change-makers. That is now ubiquitously considered a spot dedicated to welcoming your waste, a seed planted for piles of trash to grow. No questions asked, no scrutiny faced. Certainly, citizens are not always at fault. There is no denying the fact that in many instances, the authorities have fallen short at providing adequate access and means of waste disposal for the common public, especially those residing in rural areas. As a matter of fact, this has further fueled people’s littering habits, leading to a vicious self-fulfilling prophecy of unending waste mismanagement.
I felt compelled to write this article after a recent trip to Shimla. I expected to immerse myself in enchanting views of hills dotted by pretty little houses. I got that experience. But I also caught sight of garbage, a lot of it, hills of it if you will. I found myself devoting more of my mind to delusioning myself imagining how much more beautiful it would all look if we scrapped the garbage at the right places than I did enjoying the real sights. If not the festering intrusion ruining the view, the smell kept coming in the way. It’s extremely saddening that trying to conceive the idea of a clean India is still being delusional at best, but it does not need to be. Cleaning out all of the trash is an uphill task, but the most effective first step that society can collectively take is to ensure that the hill does not get steeper. Our country has discovered her grandiose path towards reaching new heights of development and progress, but at present, that path is littered with wastes left behind by the irrationalities of the darker times. All it takes to clear the path, is to find the courage to take accountability, to be truly self-aware. No, it will not be cleaned by tomorrow. Better pick up the trash now and let it know its rightful place.
Trinav Prasad Talukdar is a first-year BTech student at Plaksha University, Mohali.
