Mission Not Impossible - Meet A 16-Year-Old Who Has Done His Job Of Stopping The Use Of Single Use Plastic

Age is never a factor neither to excel nor to reach to any level of understanding I will tell you how?

Aditya Mukarji, a student at Gurugram's The Shri Ram School, is working to end the world with a single-use plastic. His door-to-door campaign led to the NCR's 150 restaurants and cafes not being plastic and avoided the use of more than 26 million plastic straws.The next time you walk into a restaurant in Delhi's Khan Market to grab a cold coffee or milkshake, it probably won't fit with plastic straws. This is due to the efforts of 16-year-old Aditya Mukarji, a schoolboy who believes that the use of plastic alone is “one of the most dangerous man-made inventions” and is trying his best to remove it. 

All plastic items that are used separately, be it straws, bottles, wrappers, bags, and other packaging materials, are made of polypropylene, something that cannot be reduced or reused easily. They continue to accumulate and have irreversible negative effects on the environment. In the midst of all of this, plastic straws are a common sight in landfills, thanks to the numbers used throughout the country.
Aditya decided to take action as soon as saw the magnitude of the problem. A Class 11 student at The Shri Ram School, Gurugram, has launched a door-to-door campaign in and around the NCR to spread awareness about plastic, its harmful effects, and other related methods. A study by Un-Plastic Collective (UPC), a multi-stakeholder initiative to eradicate plastic pollution, revealed that India produces 9.46 percent tons of waste annually, of which 40 percent remains unaccounted for. Delhi is at the top of the list among all metro, with 689 tons of plastic waste produced annually.

“Its effects are evident in our daily lives - from confinement, urination to animals, and the impact on human health. Sadly, most people do not know or care about the use of plastic. So, I was determined to do less, ”Aditya Mukarji told Social Story
 In two years, it has managed to curb the use of more than 28 million plastics, including fibers. He achieved this by urging 150 commercial centers to be plastic-free.

Creating a world without plastic Born and raised in a financial and technological environment in Gurgaon, Aditya learned about environmental issues such as global warming, climate change, pollution and declining resources as she grew up. Her parents also often talked about the importance of conserving nature. "My parents have always believed in a stable life and I grew up focusing on these thought processes," recalls Aditya. At the age of 14, Aditya began volunteering with the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, a non-governmental organization working for environmental justice in partnership with individuals, citizen groups and institutions.
Building a world without plastic Born and raised in the financial and technological environment of Gurgaon, Aditya learned about environmental issues such as global warming, climate change, pollution and declining resources as she grew up. Her parents also often talked about the importance of conserving the environment.

"My parents have always believed in a stable life and I grew up focusing on these thought processes," recalls Aditya. At the age of 14, Aditya began volunteering with the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, a non-governmental organization working for environmental justice in partnership with individuals, citizen groups and institutions.

He has worked on projects related to sustainable production and scientific disposal. He chaired the Plastic Upvaas event in November 2018, held in partnership with the Canadian High Commission, to urge residents to live without one-day plastic bags and to abstain altogether. Aditya was appointed as a youth mentor in August 2019 for a campaign organized by Chintan and National Geographic: "A Million nays for the Oceans and a Million Nays for Single-Use Plastics". He has been involved in the garbage disposal campaign, and plastic awareness campaigns at PVR Cinemas and Dastkar in Delhi. A few months after starting working with the NGO, Aditya saw high plastic consumption in many hotels, restaurants, cafes, and juice shops in places near Delhi.