I WAS gliding over an amazingly beautiful landscape — 40 feet under water. It is difficult to describe the incredible shapes, the myriad of colours and the exotic creatures that inhabit this realm of Neptune. Then I saw them, like some ghostly shapes swaying gently in the current.

No, I am not talking about some exotic denizens of the deep, some of God’s wonderful creation. No, these are strictly MAN MADE. I am talking about plastic bags. They and a host of their cousins in the form of tin cans, polystyrene containers, plastic water bottles, etc. — all part of the non-degradable rubbish which we throw mindlessly in our environment — have been and will be for many years to come the constant blight on our world.

I said they are ‘man made’ in that they are manufactured by man, and they are also ‘man made’ in the fact that they litter our world because of man’s action.

One day I was dinning at a seafood restaurant by estuary of a river. There we were, sipping our after dinner cups of coffee, feeling very satisfied and soaking in the atmosphere. The food was good, the evening breeze balmy and the sunset stunning. “Aah, life is good” we all thought collectively. Then came the waiter, he promptly gathered all the left-over food, the used napkins, the coconut husks and all the remnants of our beautiful meal … and he chucked them over the rail into the sea.

“Hey, hey” said my wife, “you should not throw the rubbish into the sea.”

He looked at her quizzically, “Why not? The sea is so big.”

I can understand his puzzlement for being reprimanded in doing what we have been doing since time immemorial. Yes, we have been a ‘simply throw’ society. I remember when we were kids we would just simply throw all our rubbish over our shoulders. You could almost say that it was our culture and until recent years nobody raised an eyebrow over it. However, as the Bob Dylan’s song goes, ‘the times they are a-changing’.

What has changed? Well for a start there are that many more of people on this earth, and to compound that, the amount of rubbish each individual generated has increased steadily. It is estimated that in New York City between 1900 and 2000 waste collections has increased tenfold, from 92 pounds per person per year to 1,242 pounds per person per year. I believe the statistics for Malaysia may not be that much different.

What caused the increase in the amount of rubbish we generate? I am sure that can be a subject of a doctorate thesis and can earn some individuals a PhD or two with some distance learning establishments, but for now, suffice to just lay the blame on ‘the throw-away culture’ which defines our present society which is influenced, nay, I should say, overwhelmed, by consumerism.

One of the driving forces behind this phenomenon is the ‘built-in obsolescence’, cunningly instituted by the manufacturers. Simply put, this means all products are designed and built to have a limited life span only. Some of us may hanker for the ‘good old days’ when ‘things were built to last’. I am afraid those days are long gone and they reside only in our memories.

I had an uncle who was a taxi driver. He plied his trade for a good 25 years until his demise. During that time he had only one car. It was an old Ford. I don’t know what model but we used to call it ‘ola ford’. One day a cousin who had just newly qualified as a doctor, came to visit in his spanking new car. It was not his lucky day, for he backed his brand new car into the ‘ola ford’. The boot of the new car was destroyed but there was nary a scratch on the Ford.

Think about it, how many of these things: computers, mobile phones, cars (just to mention a few) have you gone through in the last 10 years? And what happened to the used items? Yes, we are doomed to be the throw-away society. The manufacturers and business imperative will see to that. After all they have invested millions in building the factories and every minute the production conveyor belt is not moving is an actual loss or potential loss.

Apart from the increase in the volume of waste we generated, our society is also facing a very stiff challenge from the new type of waste, the plastic based non-degradable rubbish. Those of us of sufficient vintage may recollect that once our take-outs were wrapped in big leaves from a shrub which grew abundantly by the road side. That was before the advent of the plastic bags. Now everything seems to be put in plastic bags.

Let me recount my recent experience. I went to a supermarket to buy some tofu. It was very cheap, only about two ringgit. The tofu block was in a plastic container. Then the salesgirl put it in a plastic bag because she had to weigh the goods and seal it with a price tape. At the checkout counter the two ringgit worth of tofu was placed in a plastic carrier bag. Wow, three plastic containers for a two ringgit worth of product!

When I said that I don’t want the plastic carrier, the salesgirl was puzzled. I could almost read her thought: “why not? Plastic is strong, light, cheap, waterproofed and very convenient.” Yes, plastic is all that and more — it is also virtually indestructible.

It seems that in inventing it we are too clever by half. We have created the Frankenstein Monster, and one which would not go away. Of course, they are also a number of other “monsters” in the form of other non-biodegradable products with long unspellable and unpronounceable names.

As I said earlier we come from a tradition of ‘simply throw’ society. It was okay when we were dealing with nature’s product or derivative of nature’s product. So when the waiter at the seafood restaurant threw the coconut husks, the left-over food, and even the tissue paper into the sea they would do not much harm. For eventually they would break down and dissolve into the earth. Alas ‘times they are a-changing’ and we have to meet the challenge posed by our clever new products. They may be washed by the rain into the river and into the sea, buried or strewn all over the place remaining as silent reminders of our failure as custodians of the planet.

The mentality of our yesteryears has to be changed. We have to grow out of our ‘simply throw’ society and deal with the new challenge. We have to educate ourselves and our children of this new reality.

As the sage Lao tzu said: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step’. So it is heartening to note that the Miri City Council is starting a campaign, ‘Say No to Plastic’. For a start, come August the major supermarkets and departmental stores in Miri will reduce the usage of plastic bags.

Way to go Miri! I hope the capital city of Sarawak will take note.

The writer can be contacted at desee@pc.jaring.my