Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Narendra Modi) announced a striking statement on August 15, 2019, that India will phase out single-use plastics by 2022. This has triggered a lot of speculation about whether the use of single-use plastics is about to be banned. On October 2, Prime Minister Gandhi Jayanti issued a statement again, stating that single-use plastics (SUP) will be phased out by 2022. Officials said the states will play an important role in ensuring that this goal is achieved.

SUP refers to plastic that is used only once, such as disposable packaging, dishes, cutlery, straws and other items. A FICCI study estimated that 43% of India’s plastics are used for packaging, most of which are disposable plastics. We also have completely unnecessary disposable plastic that enters our home in the form of invitation cards, magazines, bread wrappers, and advertising covers.

Single-use plastics are only one part of the truly great challenge, namely the management of various plastic wastes. But it is best to start with SUP, because its large and growing volume greatly increases the total amount of plastic waste. The increase in volume is largely due to the rise of e-commerce in India, where people buy goods from companies that use single-use plastic packaging such as Amazon and Flipkart. Both companies have pledged to phase out the use of single-use plastics, but this is unlikely to happen soon.

Since John W Hyatt invented plastic in 1869, it has always been an indispensable part of our lives. Due to the flexibility, durability and lightness of this material, it is the convenience of modern life. Made a great contribution. Plastics are not only used in airplanes, computers, cars, trucks and other vehicles, but also in our daily necessities, such as refrigerators, air conditioners, furniture, and wire casings.

The problem is that plastic does not decompose naturally and will exist in the environment for thousands of years. Therefore, the safe disposal of plastic waste is a huge challenge worldwide. For a great short introduction to plastics, please visit sciencehistory.org/the-history-and-future-of-plastics.

Nearly 20 states in India once banned the use of single-use plastic products partially or completely.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Himachal Pradesh opted for complete bans, while other states including Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa tried partial bans. In general, the ban was not successful due to the country’s poor enforcement capacity.

Plastic tote bags pose a special problem. Although they are sturdy, light and useful-and can be stored, cleaned and reused many times-they do not do so in most cases because they are very cheap and therefore not taken seriously (plastic tote bags are usually provided free of charge in stores). They actually become disposable plastics.

Facts have proved that mandatory charges on handbags by retail stores are the most effective in reducing their use without prohibiting them. In Ireland, since most shoppers started to carry their own reusable food bags, adding a small fee to each bill reduced the demand for such handbags by 95%.

In India, the 2016 plastic waste management rules included a clause in Rule 15 requiring clear pricing for handbags. This requires the supplier to register and pay an annual fee to the city's local agency. But the lobbying of plastics manufacturers ensured that the clause was deleted in the 2018 amendment-and it was never publicly debated like a mandatory requirement.

In India, plastic manufacturers have been advocating the use of thicker and thicker micron sizes to make handbags. In addition, when carrying bags is prohibited, it will result in the use of non-woven polypropylene (PP) bags, which feel like cloth, and are now even printed as cloth: these are actually more dangerous to the environment because their fine fibers are wiped away. And enter global waters as microplastics.

Discarded plastic bags cause the biggest problem in waste management. They were blown into the sewers by the wind, causing flooding in urban areas. They are used as the lining of trash cans to dispose of daily food residues. They enter the stomachs of roaming animals because they will eat them to get the food inside, which will eventually lead to their deaths. All plastic waste will eventually be carried into the ocean by rain, streams and rivers.

In the 1960s, a Texas-sized area of ​​floating plastic trash hovering in the Pacific Ocean first attracted people's attention. Similar or even greater amounts of sunken plastic, especially discarded fishing gear, called ghost nets, cover our seafloor. Both floating and sinking plastic will kill rivers and marine life.

We need to raise awareness of the damage caused by SUP and cultivate consumer awareness to minimize their use. For example, at the airport, we can use a beautiful cloth bag to replace the several-meter-long plastic wrap used to wrap luggage, and use a beautiful cloth bag to be sewn and temporarily sealed by a machine, and we can find other uses in the future. In our party, we can use paper plates and bamboo straws. In our pantry, we can use butter paper, as in the past, to replace millions of bread wrappers that are unnecessary for products with a shelf life of one to three days. We should also write to those who send us magazines, invitations, or plastic sleeve advertisements, using tear-resistant paper instead. Finally, the disposable plastic tableware at the party should be replaced with washable and reusable tableware.

SUP may be converted into plastic pellets through thermomechanical recycling to be mixed into other plastic products, usually agricultural irrigation pipes. However, the collection and recycling of post-consumer waste is a major challenge. Especially when the package includes different types of polymer layers. Multi-layer flexible packaging used for potato chips and other snacks cannot be made into pellets because it contains layers of plastic with different melting points. The 2016 plastic waste management rules require creators of such packaging waste to recover at their own expense or pay the city the management costs under the extended manufacturer's responsibility. But almost no compliance.

Although India does recycle more through informal networks of waste collectors and separators (many of which are recycled downwards) than industrialized countries, a study by FICCI points out that rapid growth in consumption has allowed us to reach consumption that has clearly exceeded Improved India’s current capacity to recycle plastics.

In the 2017 column (IE, October 25, "Don't waste the possibility"), we pointed out how to use recycled plastic to reinforce roads. The use of plastic is twice or more than three times the lifespan of roads-it has been approved by the Indian Road Congress and authorized by the National Highway Administration in November 2015 to reach 50 kilometers around every city with a population of more than 500,000 . To date, more than 14,000 kilometers of so-called plastic roads have been built, which are durable and free of potholes. Only corruption in road contracts limits its wider use, because longer roads mean fewer contracts to build and rebuild inferior roads.

Another ingenious idea is to replace the use of thermocol with fully biodegradable wood pith from the shola/sola plant (Aeschynomene aspera)-until the 1950s, this was used in large quantities to make sola for colonists and their armies. topees or pith helmets. Today, it is used for decorations in Bangladeshi weddings and Durga festivals. Imagine that the stable commercial use of this wild swamp reed generates income for the countryside.

We need more such innovative ideas and fundamental changes in thinking to minimize the use of single-use plastics. If we want to continue to take advantage of the many advantages that plastics provide in our modern lifestyles, now is the time to turn to the greater challenge of plastic waste management.

This article first appeared in the print edition on October 30, 2019, under the heading "In the Plastic World." Ahluwalia is the chairman of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and Patel is a member of the Solid Waste Management Committee of the Supreme Court.

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Isher Judge Ahluwalia The author is the Chairman of the Indian International Research Council... read more

Almitra PatelPatel is a member of the Solid Waste Management Committee of the Supreme Court...Read more