When news came to me that the Tamil Nadu government had called for a ban on consumption, manufacture, and sale of plastic products in the state with the dawn of 2019, I found myself waiting in line at one of the many juice shops in the city, all contributing to the Nash Equilibrium, getting myself a plastic straw.
For starters, I realise the harm that non-degradable plastic causes to the environment; but like many others, I tend to be hypocritical when it comes to straws. Growing up in a city that had an irresistible and almost unavoidable juice culture, it was essential that you kept a track of your hygiene, and straws were designed to do just that, especially the plastic kind — it’s cheap, disposable, and plastic. Shopkeepers and Juicetenders (Yes, I coined that word) don’t ask customers if they need a straw, the tall glass of juice comes with a straw; this leaves very little room for the reduction or elimination of plastic straws from the transaction.
A video of a turtle in Costa Rica with a straw up its nose, bleeding, went viral sometime last year; the internet circle jerk finally came of use with members of various communities taking a strong stand to avoid the usage of straws. Our city followed forth as well; with high-end cafes that used to serve straws with paper wrappers around them entirely saying no to straws.
But here’s the thing: there are more juice shops that don’t necessarily run on franchise models and are operated and owned by a local entrepreneur with free space next to their grocery store, than cafés that charge by the hour for their embarrassingly slow wireless internet. And eliminating plastic straws in an environment where sales are dictated by demand will prove to be harder than saying no to straws overnight.
Customers who resort to roadside eateries on a hot summer’s day would want to relish their cold watermelon juices, sipping from their straws sans the little umbrellas; this is how juices in glasses have been marketed and sold. To eliminate this and educate customers on the evil that is plastic straws might prove to be counter-intuitive; juice shops are a dime a dozen; people who want juices in glasses with straws in them will go to the ones that will continue to serve straws, thereby entering the vicious cycle
once again.
The alternative is, one that could be implemented even before the ban on plastic in the state begins is to use eco-friendly variants; bamboo straws, reusable steel straws, paper and cardboard straws, etc. Given how important plastic has become to the consumption, packaging, and selling of a lot of the things we consume, looking for alternatives to plastic and not turn our conditioned heads away from the purpose of plastic might just be of better help.
The next time you go to a juice shop to get yourself a glass of watermelon juice, take your own eco-friendly straw or just say no when you order. It is our second-nature to use them; let’s try and make it our second-nature to avoid them.
Bhargav Prasad
Twitter@CFLlightSabers
The writer specializes in first drafts, making observations on what makes Chennai, Madras