New Delhi: New day, new challenge! The internet has been sucked into yet another viral trend – the bottle cap challenge, which has generated an incessant buzz on social media. As part of the challenge, a bottle is placed on a table with its cap loosely placed on and the person taking up the challenge has to untwist the cap with a roundhouse kick. While celebrities like Akshay Kumar, Sushmita Sen and Tiger Shroff among others took up the challenge in India, There’s one celebrity who finds it ‘sickening’.
The United Nations Environment Goodwill Ambassador, Dia Mirza took to twitter to express her disappointment towards celebrities using plastic bottles for the challenge. She tweeted,
So the #BottleCapChallenge that is trending sickens me for one reason. Most being done with those darn plastic bottles. How will we ever wake up to the reality that we need to discontinue the use of single use plastics? Less than 1% plastic bottles are recycled globally.
So the #BottleCapChallenge that is trending sickens me for one reason. Most being done with those darn plastic bottles. How will we ever wake up to the reality that we need to discontinue the use of single use plastics? Less than 1% plastic bottles are recycled globally.
— Dia Mirza (@deespeak) July 6, 2019
Also Read: Can India Eliminate Single-Use Plastics By 2022?
As soon as the tweet was sent out, Twitteratti joined in to support Ms. Mirza’s stance, highlighting what a big issue single-use plastic is, globally.
You’re right Dia, tweeted a user.
You are right Dia, Most people these days are playing the Bottle Cap Challenge. They are using mostly the plastic bottles. The people have to discontinue using them further
— Ashik Ihsan (@Ashik56405537) July 6, 2019
how abt stopping the production of such plastic bottles?
— Pranav Patel???????? (@pranav9983) July 6, 2019
The government must stop production of single use plastics totally as well. As long as it's production is in full flow and plastics are readily available in the market, you can't blame the public for using it. Alternate materials also to be made available in adequate quantity…
— Amit Pal (@amitpalpg) July 6, 2019
Is anybody doing the #BottleCapChallenge where we throw every used mineral water bottle and the cap into the dustbin after use? 'Coz that's the only one that matters.
Also, try not to buy plastic bottles and carry your own please. Helps the planet a great deal.
— Nishant Thakkar (@thatnishant) July 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/GDhirav/status/1148176302815363072
Don’t use plastic bottles, please. #BottleCapChallenge
Don't use plastic bottles, please. #BottleCapChallenge
— jayant rai (@jayant_rai29) July 4, 2019
May people round the world have highlighted the same point.
I hope all these plastic bottles used on the #BottleCapChallenge are being recycled, tweeted another user.
I hope all these plastic bottles used on the #BottleCapChallenge are being recycled
— 3MuskerBeards (@kenyan_parody) July 7, 2019
It’s 2019. Instead of kicking our single-use plastic addiction, we’re kicking caps off plastic bottles for social media. #BottleCapChallenge pic.twitter.com/WvsA1bT9Ql
— Mike Campton (@mikecampton) July 8, 2019
https://twitter.com/_sxdz_/status/1147671167081308161
The real challenge is to stop using plastic bottles #BottleCapChallenge #NoPlastic pic.twitter.com/6P9IiOhvjC
— Hugues Feyrit (@FeyritHugues) July 7, 2019
How about instead of kicking the cap off a plastic bottle for the #BottleCapChallenge, people decide not to buy a plastic bottle in the first place. Then the challenge become doing a small bit towards caring for the planet and future generations. #myplasticfeedback
— one9eighty ???? (@one9eighty) July 5, 2019
Also Read: Waste Management: People Recycle More If They Know What Recyclable Waste Becomes, Says Study
The Bottle Cap Challenge reportedly was started by Taekwondo instructor and fighter Farabi Davletchin on June 25. But it went viral after mixed martial-artist Max Holloway and Musician John Mayer tried it out.
Ms. Mirza often speaks about the urgent need to reduce single-use plastic consumption in India however; recently Bollywood’s ‘Bhai’ Salman Khan also gave an indirect yet important message on the widely acknowledged crisis.
Mr. Khan shared a video on Twitter, where he can be seen offering water in a plastic bottle to a monkey, whom he named ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. The monkey, however, refuses to accept. Mr. Khan then offers it water in a glass and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ is quick to grab it.
“Hamara bajrangi bhaijaan plastic ki bottle se paani nahi peeta” Salman captioned the video.
Hamara bajrangi bhaijaan plastic ki bottle se paani nahi peeta … pic.twitter.com/uojM8w7IJX
— Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) June 29, 2019
Translates: Our Bajrangi Bhaijaan does not drink water from a plastic bottle.
While the video was shared on a fun note, Mr. Khan conveyed an important message to his 37 million followers – it’s time we stop using single-use plastic bottles.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
