India is going towards a great achievement, as announced by the prime minister Narendra Modi: the country will eliminate all single-use plastic by 2022. 60 nations all around the planet are pursuing plastic reduction plans, and yet India’s one is the most ambitious, because Modi wants to eliminate plastic in a country that counts 1.3 billion inhabitants and it’s the fastest growing economy in the world.
Modi spoke on Tuesday, and he said: «The choices that we make today will define our collective future». «The choices may not be easy. – prime minister claimed – But through awareness, technology, and a genuine global partnership, I am sure we can make the right choices. Let us all join together to beat plastic pollution and make this planet a better place to live».
Plastic pollution is an huge problem: there are millions of tonnes of plastic that enter each year our seas, causing serious damages to animals especially in Asia. Plastic is everywhere, from the most remote oceanic islands to high Swiss peaks, from tap water to human food.
Seawaters flows through India for 7,500 km, so the government decide to set up a national marine litter action campaign and a programme to measure the impact of plastic from sea on India. 100 national monuments will become litter-free.
According to Modi «environmental degradation hurts the poor and vulnerable the most», so «it is the duty of each one of us to ensure that material prosperity does not compromise our environment». It’s not the first ambitious pledge that came from Modi: in 2014 he said he would bring electricity to the population that have not and on 28 April he announced the success of this mission.