Published in Dwarka Express on 20.1.2024
Centuries back, feathers were used to write. Even earlier, processed/preserved leaves and tree barks were used for long to write. In fact, every human activity was related to nature. Science and technology brought many inventions and pen is one such item that was of dire need for communications. Those were days, when today’s oldies might have carried the fountain pens with bolted ink to school. The shirt pockets of boys used to get stained with leaking heads of pens. At home, grandma was storing the provisions in Horlicks bottles and Brittania biscuit tin containers. Gone are those nostalgic olden days! Repair/refill/reuse culture has vanished. During the same period, a travel in a train witnessed spilling of plastic cups and tin foiled food packets on both sides of railway lines. By 90’s plastic scrambled the world. Around the same period, ball point pens usage scaled up. All we had to do was to buy a two-rupee ball pen and a packet of 5/10 refills. We remember the bygone days when in the work place also, staff used to go to the Managers for getting free refills. Then came the varieties of trendy ball pens with finer tips that made the writing legible and clear. By then, the fountain pens gave way and almost disappeared. Initially, we had about 3 or 4 types of refills and we were able to use the pen for quite a longer time. Recently a survey was held by us and we sought responses where to get refills. Most of the respondents said, ‘refills have vanished from market’ ‘refill shop is near MG Road (we need to travel 20 KMs to get a refill!). Stationery shops stock mostly pens only, not refills.
The refill culture is relegated to a back seat with the advent of USE & THROW era. Designer pens are not reusable. If you have a hobby for pen collection, you may like varieties. Otherwise, these pens will end up at the landfills. Someone jibed, ‘so what, even the refill is a plastic.’ Very true. We also admit that it is a plastic piece. But at least, it should be made a habit to reduce single use plastics. Some unconfirmed data say that Single Use Plastics (SUPs) constitute only 10 percent of the plastic. However, this 10 percent is a dangerous junk, as all our waterbodies are clogged with SUPs. Polythene carry bags were banned from July 1st, 2022, but even today the street vendors use it. We are not habituated to carry a cloth bag while going out. REUSE is the easiest way to contribute to environment. PET bottles are another conspicuous example of SUPs. But regrettably, PET bottles are not included in the 19 banned items. It is not clear as to why PET bottles were excluded from the banned items. Used PET bottles are discarded everywhere almost in the entire country. Here and there, some efforts are being made to reuse or recycle these bottles. But there is concrete solution for the PET menace. Carrying a bag and bottle is the best practice. Will CPCB take steps to include it under the banned SUPs so that manufacturing of the same will stop?