So, dear readers, now that we have learnt how and why waste plastic causes pollution, let us look a little deeper into this problem, which has grown out of proportion both globally and locally. Plastic pollution is no longer a distant issue; it has become a serious and immediate threat to our environment. According to the latest data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and several international resea

Plastic pollution has two faces: careless human behaviour and the stubborn chemistry of the material itself. As I mentioned in my last article, while speaking at the  ‘Beat the Plastic Pollution’  seminar, one participant asked how discarded plastic actually pollutes the environment. The answer, I explained, lies on two levels. The first is simple and immediate: our everyday habits of careless disposal—throwing plastic on streets, into drains, water bodies, or open land. This

Convenient as they are, one-time plastic shopping bags eventually land in garbage dumps and become pollution. Welcome to 2026, dear reader! Before I continue, let me briefly recall where the seminar discussion had paused. I had shared a simple incident from a vegetable market to explain that plastic by itself does not create pollution. It was at this point that one of the attendees remarked how most of us reuse plastic carry bags to collect household garbage, only to discard

Are you guilty of taking plastic bags for your regular grocery shopping, or do you do the right thing and carry your own? Recently, I was addressing a group of young people at a seminar. Most of them were students. The topic of the session was  “Beat the Plastic Pollution”.  I began my speech with a deliberately provocative statement. “Plastic does not create any pollution,” I said. Then I paused and asked, “Do you all agree?” The room instantly filled with confusion. The aud

Not all plastics are created equal—codes 5, 6 and 7 show why some materials recycle easily, while others pose serious challenges. I n the earlier parts of this series, we examined the first set of Resin Identification Codes. Let us now continue our exploration of the remaining codes and their uses.   Code no. 5 This code is assigned to products made from polypropylene (PP). It is a highly versatile polymer, widely known for its durability, chemical resistance, and light weigh

From packaging to household goods, RIC 3 and 4 plastics are everywhere. Learn how to identify them at a glance. In my previous article, we explored the first two Resin Identification Codes— RIC 1 (PET) , commonly used in beverage and food containers, and  RIC 2 (HDPE) , found in sturdy household bottles and a wide range of utility products. Both plastics are among the easiest to recycle, making them central to responsible waste management and to the broader shift towards more

India’s lethal air has become so routine that even mass mortality now struggles to provoke political urgency.   India’s national capital is choking as it always does, under a winter blanket of smog that has long ceased to shock. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has responded by urging half the city’s office workforce to work from home - a palliative that only serves to starkly underscore the enduring helplessness of governments in tackling the poison in the air. Delhi is not

The capital’s annual smog crisis is no longer a seasonal aberration but a policy failure in slow motion. In recent years, winter in north India has become a season of dread instead of relief from the monsoons. Nowhere is this more viscerally felt than in Delhi, which has slipped from a polluted megacity into the ranks of the world’s most toxic capitals. Until the early 1990s, Delhi’s air, though imperfect, remained largely breathable. A smaller population, fewer vehicles and

While nearly all plastics are made from fossil fuels, their differences become clear only when we look at the seven RIC codes. Dear Reader, it feels nice to take a journey down the ‘history lane’, and that is what I did over the past three weeks. In the first part, we began with Abeer’s vivid and haunting dream—a child’s gentle warning about the sorrow of our oceans. In the second part, we traced plastics from their origins to their surprising rise as everyday companions in o

A nation aspiring to scientific leadership cannot afford a capital city where breathing becomes dangerous for weeks at a time. Each winter, Delhi descends into a familiar haze so thick that even routine life slows down. Flights are delayed, highways are shrouded in grey, hospitals record a spike in respiratory cases, and millions of citizens breathe air that would be classified as hazardous anywhere in the world. For more than a decade, this pattern has repeated itself with t

Once seen as a way to save elephants and tortoises, plastic has since threaded itself through every aspect of modern living. The invention of plastic was still very much in its infancy in the late nineteenth century. As I mentioned in my earlier article, people across the world were actively searching for a practical, affordable, and sustainable alternative to ivory and other animal-derived materials. At the time, these natural substances were widely used to produce everyday

Plastic has transformed modern life with its convenience — but at a devastating cost to the environment. Plastic, once hailed as a wonder material for its versatility and durability, has become one of the planet’s most persistent pollutants. It traces the origins of plastic to synthetic polymers derived from fossil fuels, and their very strength and resilience now threaten ecosystems worldwide. Plastics have become so deeply rooted in our daily lives that it is almost impossi

We might one day see our planet wrapped in what looks like a massive plastic bag. One morning, my nine-year-old grandson, Abeer, woke up from a frightening dream. He was trembling, his face pale with fear. After soothing him for a while, we gently asked what had happened. Taking a deep breath, he gathered his courage and began to recount his dream. He said he saw himself walking along a beach in Goa with his parents. The sun was shining, the waves lapping gently against the s

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