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PLASTIC-WASTE MANAGEMENT

PLASTIC-WASTE MANAGEMENT

Plastic has become one of the most pressing environmental issues that we are facing today. India is generating about 3.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually. Right from municipal solid waste, plastic waste, to automobile waste, the amount of waste is expected to be 3 times by 2025. Less than one tenth of plastic is recycled. The huge volumes of leakages in plastic wastes demands a clarion call for a various efforts for plastic waste management in the country.

What is the Significance of Plastic

• Resistant, inert, and lightweight, plastic offers many benefits to companies, consumers, and other links in society. This is all because of its low-cost and versatile nature.
• In the medical industry, plastics are used to keep things sterile. Syringes and surgical implements are all plastic and single use.
• In the automotive industry, it has allowed a significant reduction in vehicle weight, reducing fuel consumption and, consequently, the environmental impact of automobiles.
• Plastics protect our heads in the form of helmets. They keep us safer in our cars in the form of seatbelts, fuel tanks, windscreens and airbags.

Problem

• Single Use Plastic - Plastics are primarily produced from crude oil, gas, or coal, and 40% of total plastic is discarded after a single use. Our relationship with plastic is short-term focused. Many of these products, such as plastic bags and food wrappers, have a lifespan of mere minutes to hours, yet they may persist in the environment for hundreds of years.
• Microplastics: Sea, sunlight, wind, and wave action break down plastic waste into small particles, often less than one-fifth of an inch across called microplastics. Spread throughout the water column and have been found in every corner of the globe. Microplastics are breaking down further into smaller and smaller pieces.- Plastic microfibers. They have been found in municipal drinking water systems and drifting through the air.
• No Strict Adherance to Plastic Waste Management: Globally, about one fourth of plastic waste is never collected. In less wealthy countries, waste plastic is sometimes burned in the open, releasing toxic chemicals into the air.

What are the Issues Associated with Plastic-Waste in India

• More Plastic Per Person: Like much of the world, India is struggling to dispose of its growing quantities of plastic waste given how ubiquitous it has become- from our toothbrushes to debit cards. A little over 10,000 tonnes a day of plastic waste remains uncollected.
• Unsustainable Packaging: India’s packaging industry is the biggest consumer of plastics. A 2020 study on packaging in India projects a loss of almost 133 billion dollars worth of plastic material value over the next decade due to unsustainable packaging.Unsustainable packaging involves general packaging through single use plastic.
• Online Delivery: The popularity of online retail and food delivery apps, though restricted to big cities, is contributing to the rise in plastic waste. India’s biggest online delivery startups Swiggy and Zomato are each reportedly delivering about 28 million orders a month. E-commerce companies too have come under fire for excess use of plastic packaging.
• Upsets the Food Chain: Polluting plastics can affect the world’s tiniest organisms, such as plankton. When these organisms become poisoned due to plastic ingestion, this causes problems for the larger animals that depend on them for food. Larger items, such as plastic bags and straws, can choke and starve marine life, while smaller fragments (microplastics) can cause liver, reproductive, and gastrointestinal damage in animals and it can directly impact the blue economy as well.

Solutions to Plastic-Waste Management

• Identifying Hotspots: Identifying key hotspots of Plastic leakage associated with production, consumption, and disposal of Plastic can assist governments in developing effective policies that address the plastic problem directly.
• Designing Alternatives: Identifying plastic items that can be replaced with non-plastic, recyclable, or biodegradable materials is the first step. Find alternatives to single-use plastics and reusable design goods by working with product designers.Promoting the use of Oxo-biodegradable plastics, that are manufactured to be broken down by ultra-violet radiation and heat, more quickly than regular plastics.
• Circular Economy for Plastic Management: Circular economy can reduce material use, redesigns materials to be less resource intensive, and recaptures “waste” as a resource to manufacture new materials and products.Circular economy is not just applicable to the global currents of plastic and clothes, but can also contribute significantly to the achievement of sustainable development goals. Circular economy can reduce material use, redesigns materials to be less resource intensive, and recaptures “waste” as a resource to manufacture new materials and products.

Multi-stakeholder collaboration: Government ministries at the national and local levels must collaborate in the development, implementation and oversight of policies, which includes participation from industrial firms, non-governmental organisations and volunteer organisations