Plastic Menace & Food Industry: Implicit Health Disaster

Waking up to warm frothy milk, in that magnificent steel or brass tumbler is a childhood memory that visits me even now, every morning when I treat myself to my cuppa. Traditional Indian kitchens would be such a delightful sight with the scintillating utensils in the morning light. The warmth of food and beverages would also heat up the hands in chilly winters. There was something about that old kitchen culture sans plastic, which made it so distinctive, pristine and benevolent. Then plastic made its debut as kitchen ware in the form of containers, cups and plates. The sheer aesthetic appeal and handiness of plastic made it monopolise the entire food industry eventually.

Superficial appeal of plastic ware over the traditional heavy metal ware including brass, bronze and steel utensils cajoled almost everyone to switch over to it, without being mindful of the health disaster it brings to the community.

Scores of people drinking tea and coffee in plastic and thermocol cups at food outlets near offices is a routine sight in the cities. Even the grooviest of corporate work spaces, prodigally serve beverages and meals in plastic ware. For storing left over foods or parcelling take away eatables, plastic and polythene packaging is utilised extensively.

Cheap imported plastic ware dominates the kids market as well. Most school children are sent their school meals and drinking water from home in plastic containers and bottles. Those colourful and cartoon imprinted school tiffin boxes and cutlery are extremely popular among young children. It seems no one’s business to explore whether these hot meal-carrying containers release toxins onto the food, being consumed by a majority of the young generation. Schools are completely indifferent as well about sensitising children or their caretakers regarding the potential dangers of plastic abuse. I believe awareness initiatives by schools in this regard can definitely do wonders in nipping this plastic sponsored health threat at the outset itself.

Busy kiosks at railway platforms and airports serving hot beverages in plastic cups is again an established practice. These are then recklessly dumped to contaminate the environment in heaps around the less monitored corners of cities and towns.  Besides, several households reuse mineral water bottles for storing oils and juices. Refrigerating eatables in plastic containers and reusing flimsy plastic cutlery is a shocking norm again. Most eateries conveniently pack their curries, ketchup and salads in polythene packing. These are delivered to our doorsteps to feast on. Packing chutneys and salads in polythene is almost ubiquitous be it anywhere in the country. Plastic/ thermocol cups for consuming green tea and water being used in many hospitals and clinics are yet another bewildering example! Last week at a well-known clinic in an upscale region of Dehradun, I was offered coffee in flimsy plastic cup.

This shocks me beyond words as it is a practice which even the health practitioners are tacitly indulging in.

Now there is a considerable difference between being ignorant and being indifferent. The present crisis of plastic abuse in our community is of the latter kind in fact. We all know in bits and pieces how dangerous chemicals in plastic can contaminate the food it touches. A detailed probe in this regard however hardly ever occurs to any of us. BPA and several other carcinogenic chemicals bleed out of plastic whenever it heats up or when it is deep frozen. Routine exposure to such chemicals is virtual slow poisoning for the human system.

It is high time, we address this indifference by eliminating anything remotely plastic from our kitchens and bidding goodbye to thermocol cups as well, the thin waxed insides of which are coated with wax. This wax melts and assimilates with the food or liquid it contains.

Even a step backward seems really challenging, given the ubiquity of plastic in modern lives. However considering the grave health outcomes of prodigal plastic use in food industry, a strict reversal of this practice is required immediately.

(The writer is a former government official with over two decades of experience in solid waste management and an aspiring environmentalist).