Plastic Diets, from Millenilal & Gen-Z for the Future

Looking at the historical story from its invention, plastic has an interesting story. Before the 19th century, some of the daily tools were made from elephant ivory, such as for billiard balls. Of course, this condition created many disadvantages. Elephant population was threatened because of elephant population massacre at that time. In addition, humans can only produce their tools with very limited resources. Inspired by this problem, in 1869 John Wesley Hyatt found a synthetic polymer which he patented nine years later. From his discovery, John Hyatt received a prize worth USD $10.000.

The discovery of plastic is a very good solution for human life back then, even today. However, it turned out that plastic caused many problems for many generations after. The dependence of plastics in various industries is a problem in today's human consumptive lifestyle. Although it is undeniable that plastic is also very helpful for humans. Humans now are too easy to use single-use plastics. Disposable grocery plastics at supermarkets and retails are one of them. Today's lifestyle does not require individuals to bring their own grocery containers whenever they go shopping. The ease of obtaining plastics provided by manufacturers and retailers when shopping creates a plastic consumption pattern that is not only large but also irresponsible.

Currently plastic itself has become a major pollution problem both on land and in the oceans. There are so many facts about the death of sea animals caused by single-use plastics. Of course, we cannot just ignore this case. The hope for the future is how we can be responsible for using plastic.

Millennials and Gen-Z can be the keys to changing the plastic-wasteful consumptive lifestyle for now and in the future. We can change the legacy of older generations who were not wise in using plastic today. Starting from the small things that will become a habit. We can start from using non-disposable grocery bags daily, carrying refillable drinking bottles anytime, bringing your own stainless steel straws everywhere, and other small habits to avoid using single-use plastics as much as possible. Imagine the good effects we have if the total population doing that continuously one at a time.

Now the question is, #KawanBelantara, have you changed your lifestyle?