Plastic problems

Dr Anu Sharma, Rajesh Dutta
“It is the worst of times but it is the best of times because we still have a chance”-Sylvia Earle
Looking at the wonders of plastics, they appear to be inevitable. As the years passed plastics have become a part of our daily lives. Hey wondering reading these lines! This is the harsh reality indeed. Emergence of plastics in 20thcentury was a revolution in itself. Belgian chemist and a marketer Leo Baekland was the first to give us the first fully synthetic plastic in 1907.
Though the evolution of plastic in the market was never good to the environment, particularly when its use touched its peak. The advent of single use plastic (SUP) made it even more challenging and worse ever. A throw away culture thus developed. We found it easy way out. It, of course, appeared an easy way initially but with the passage of time this tendency of use and throw led to multifarious environmental issues.
SUPs are the plastics which are used for once and then thrown away. They are very commonly called disposals or use and throw items! India has defined SUP as “a plastic commodity intended to be used once for the same purpose before being disposed of or recycled” in its Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021. Our country has also kept a target of phasing out the single use plastics by 2022. Therefore many action plans at various levels are being framed and many efforts like banning plastics, forming task forces of students, awareness campaigns at schools and colleges has begun. This is indeed appreciative.
Today the management of SUP has been a serious issue. Therefore, phasing out followed by complete ban has been enforced worldwide including India.As reported by one of the BBC political correspondent (Nick Eardley) 20 firms alone create half of all one-use -plastics in England.In England it is called “War on Plastics”.
Indian government announced ban on the single-use plastics which came in the wake of the resolution made in 2019 to address the problem of plastic pollution throughout the country. The ban will become effective from July 01, 2022 (CNBC). Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change therefore notified Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, thereby prohibiting 20 SUP items by 2022. These include products under three groups namely Carry bags which include carry bags made of virgin or recycled plastic <75 and 120 microns in thickness. Second group are Non-woven Plastic carrybags i.e. non-woven carry nags <60 GSM (Grams per square meter) or 240 microns thickness. Third group is single use plastic including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene items. These single use plastic items include ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice cream sticks, polystyrene (thermocol) for decoration, plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards & cigarette packets, plastic PVC banners less than 100 microns and stirrers
Some facts :
* Packaging material contributes to nearly 60 % of total plastic being generated as reported by Centre for Science and Environment. This has been out of list as it has been proposed to be collected and managed through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).Online shopping involves use of multilayered packing including layers of plastics also which needs an immediate attention.Packaging industry and Food delivery from hotels and restaurants
* Another issue is compostable Plastics. They are nearly 50 microns of thickness. They are entering into the Indian market on the pretext that they are compostable. But the story doesn’t end here, rather it begins here as awareness among the public regarding compostable plastics is very low. A layman feels that a compostable plastic can be littered or added to our home / community compost pit that will reduce it to simpler compounds like carbon-di-oxide and water vapor. But it does not work like this. Here it becomes necessary that the consumers should understand how it actually works. Compostable plastics can only be composted only in industrial composting facilities under the right set of controlled parameters. The problem lies in that India, with its current waste management system, is not ready for compostable plastics as they end up contaminating the potentially recyclable plastic. This adds to labour costs and further reduces the overall efficiency of plastic waste recycling in the country.Moreover, the number of industrial composting units present in the country is something that no one is talking about. If we are promoting compostable plastics, where are our industrial composting units?
* Other issues include which all of us come across at one or the other times are: SUP in the form of cutlery is used widely in conferences, workshops, seminars, training programs etc. On one hand, within the four walls of halls people come and give lectures and presentations on environmental protection and interestingly during interval time same people are seen having tea, coffee, water and eatables being served in single use plastic items. Moreover, each individual is seen with plastic water bottles which are rarely reused.SUPs are also very common during festive seasons, in langars, weddings and certain other get togethers.
* Said or unsaid many issues remain on this front.
Why at all we are worried about Single use plastics?
Many related issues call for immediate attention and action. Some of them are :
Environmental concerns, land pollution, marine pollution in the form of microplastics, health concerns of not only human beings but also animals. For example stray animals as well as marine animals eat away plastics assuming it to be food. Many a time they die out of suffocation. If not die, they face lot of problems in the form of choking, disruption of endocrine system due to toxic chemicals released from plastics when they get mixed up with the water bodies. These chemicals do not stop here only. Through the process of bio magnification and bioaccumulation they enter the food chain and remain there forever thereby disrupting the whole system.
Solution? A number of “R”plays a significant role in the solution part
Reduce, reuse, refuse, Recycle, Rethink, Redesign, Restructure, Recreate.

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