Keeping the world clean

Keeping the world clean

In the midst of a global pandemic, with heightened new considerations of sanitation and hygiene, there has perhaps never been such an advantageous time to impart upon the public psyche the need for cleanliness. There was a time when cleanliness was largely attributed to the human body primarily and to the clothes they wore. However the focus has now shifted and is now on surroundings.
While bodily cleanliness picked up its lost importance during the pandemic, the importance of clean surroundings have really picked up steam. One area of focus has been the disposal of household, commercial, industrial and most importantly medical waste. Over the galloping decades of development over the last century, one thing that was forgotten was, how to deal with the unwanted leftovers of development, not to forget what came out of personal use.
While we had always been scrupulous about the organic waste, we had conveniently forgotten the inorganic, indestructible like plastic and glass. These litters took up valuable space and made large tracts unusable. The smelly nature of the organic decay made us deal with that, not quite realizing that these in due course would become manure, and feed the richness of the soil. However, not so the inorganic wastes. Having said that, we have to realise that plastics are here to stay and the catch word is reuse, recycle and manage. Because, without plastics, not only industries but even individual life will grind to a halt. Let us not forget that the day started for you and me, with a plastic toothbrush.
The need for personal cleanliness, had taken a back seat over the last few decades. A culture of dirtiness had caught the fancy of a younger generation. Unwashed clothes, unshaven faces and unclean bodies, even gained the fancy of a whole new generation. It took a global pandemic, with a death toll to match, to bring to fore the importance of personal cleanliness. Though not fully back to the clean old days, there is a marked appreciation for the need to keep oneself washed and fresh. Another thing that people started noticing was the need to manage medical wastes. It is through these wastes that countless epidemics spread and unscientific disposal of these have been one area that had not been looked into.
Today, we, at least in principle, accept the need for a close watch on cleanliness, bot external and internal. Let is ensure that we pass the vital message on to the coming generations. We certainly cannot afford another pandemic.