How to reduce garbage

Anjuli Bhargava’s piece, “What rubbish is this?” (May 16), strikes upon the right issue. Garbage management is a big challenge for urban development. People migrating to cities from villages live in disagreeable conditions, which includes garbage. While the piece talks about the accumulation of garbage and blames government agencies, it remains silent on the spending habit of citizens, especially the educated and the affluent.

A moot point in garbage management is unnecessary packaging by manufacturers to make their products look attractive in retail stores. A 100-gram biscuit packet has three layers of plastic packaging. Such indiscriminate packaging gives rise to garbage; the companies in question have distanced themselves from responsibility towards the environment and the government. The solution is to adjust our demands and avoid multi-layered packaged products so that the pressure is on manufacturers to stop such packaging.

The other issue is the mindless use of plastic by educated and wealthy people. It is a fact that the rich generate more garbage than the poor for the simple fact that they can afford to spend more. The more you spend, the more garbage you generate. But they rarely use their education or awareness while shopping. They rarely teach their children to design their consumption pattern in a way so that less garbage is generated. The issue is so unpopular that no political party includes it in its manifesto.

Having said this, the issue of garbage cleaning should not be one where citizens go on generating garbage and the government cleans it all up. Political solutions should come from below — for example, by adopting a careful lifestyle. Lifestyles should be guided by rational self-interest.

Deba Pratim Ghatak Durgapur