new delhi make no mistake our cumulative efforts to curb the menace of singleuse plastic are just scratching the surface and while carrybags have been the focus of much of the current discourse simply because they are the most visible form of threat a number of other singleuse plastic items have remained under the radar among these are cigarette butts yes they are plastic drinking bottles bottle caps food wrappers plastic lids straws and styrofoam takeaway containers which according to a recent un report are as rampant in use as they are difficult to dispose ofthese are the waste products of a throwaway culture that treats plastic as a disposable material rather than a valuable resource to be harnessed the report titled singleuse plastics a roadmap for sustainability statedanother report released by cpcb in 2015 brings the focus closer home it states that delhi produces around 690 tonnes of plastic waste everyday worse almost 80 of this ends up in landfills and drains last year chintan an environment research and action group carried out a garbage audit and found that 36 of the total branded plastic collected in a sample of mixed garbage in delhi was lowrecyclable value cups and tetra packs chitra mukherjee of chintan said any change had to be gradual we need to involve all stakeholders and there needs to be proper infrastructure in place before these items can be phased out a ban cant happen if alternatives dont exist she said calling for a behavioural change mukherjee said why do we require plastic straws or even paper straws for that matter the aim is to completely do away with items that are not necessary and find alternatives to those that are essential to daily lifein an age of convenience singleuse plastic was dubbed as magic and quickly replaced a large number of packaging material including glass bottles for milk paper and glass for toiletries jute bags for cement and fertiliser and metal casings for toothpastes is it time to revert several ecofriendly alternatives are being talked about cigarette butts top the un list of harmful singleuse plastic items a bangalorebased company has now come up with green butts made of fruit pulp and vegetable extracts some variants have seeds that can grow into plants globally some companies offer cotton and flaxbased filter mechanisms instead of toxic plastic styrofoams and throwaway cutlery are being countered by utensil community banks as well as innovative products made up of organic materialthe un report however cautioned against blindly following new trends even biodegradable items break down completely only if exposed to high temperatures of above 50 c such conditions are met at incineration plants but rarely in real time therefore even bioplastics derived from renewable sources or from bacterial fermentation dont automatically degrade in the environment and definitely not in the ocean the report stateddelhis draft plastic waste management bylaws envisage more responsibility on manufactures they propose that the primary responsibility of collection of multilayer plastic packaging be