{"id":49572,"date":"2019-07-12T19:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T13:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=49572"},"modified":"2019-07-12T16:08:14","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T10:38:14","slug":"7-pm-picking-out-plastic-12th-july-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-picking-out-plastic-12th-july-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM | Picking out plastic | 12th July, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1z9ZMwaMLl-0O26Vnoq0NWaQcXlRJYf8L\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Read\u00a0In-depth analysis of all the Editorials here (opens in a new tab)\">Read\u00a0In-depth analysis of all the Editorials here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Context:\n<\/strong>Plastic\nwaste and its management in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rapid\npopulation growth, urbanization, and industrial growth have led to severe waste\nmanagement problems in cities around the world. Simultaneous development in\neconomic prosperity and industrialization often conflict with sound\nenvironmental considerations. Globally, nearly 140 million tons of plastics are\nproduced each year. In India, around 4-5% of municipal solid waste (MSW)\nmaterials are post-consumer plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Plastic Consumption:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>35% of plastic consumption is in packaging, and 23% is in building and construction. Other relevant categories are transport (8%), electronics (8%) and agriculture (7%). Consumption of plastics in consumer goods is growing at an alarming rate, and much of this growth is likely to be rooted in rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"193\" height=\"133\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/aaaa.jpg?resize=193%2C133&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-49573\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nPresent Scenario:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>As per CPCB reports, plastic contributes\nto 8% of the total solid waste, with Delhi producing the maximum quantity\nfollowed by Kolkata and Ahmadabad. <\/li><li>Only 60% of the total plastic waste is\nbeing recycled. Households generate maximum plastic waste, of which water and\nsoft drink bottles form a large number. <\/li><li>In India, around 43% of manufactured\nplastics are used for packaging purpose and most are of single use.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Future\nDemand:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>An estimate by the Ministry of Petroleum\nand Natural gas suggests that the annual per capita consumption in India would\nbe 20kgs by 2022.<\/li><li>India is third highest consumer of\nmaterials after China and USA. Economic Survey 2019 estimates that India\u2019s\ndemand for total material will double by 2030 at current rates of growth.<\/li><li>The retail sector expects e-commerce to\ngrow from about $38.5 billion equivalent in 2017 to $200 billion by 2026.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Plastic\nin water bodies:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The seas near Mumbai, Kerala and the\nAndaman and Nicobar Islands are among the worst polluted in the world. <\/li><li>Plastic debris affects at least 267\nspecies worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird\nspecies, and 43% of all marine mammal species. <\/li><li>Significant amount of toxic heavy metals\nlike copper, zinc, lead and cadmium recovered from plastic wastes from sea\nshores have an adverse effect on the coastal ecosystems.&nbsp; <\/li><li>Lead and Cadmium pigments, commonly used\nin most of the plastics as additives are hazardous in nature and are known to\nleach out. <\/li><li>Several GHG gases are emitted from the\nlandfills. Among them, carbon dioxide and methane constitute 90 to 98%.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Collection\nof plastic waste in India:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016\nmandated the producers and brand owners to devise a plan in consultation with\nthe local bodies to introduce a collect-back system. This system is known as\nthe Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR). <\/li><li>CPCB has estimated the collection\nefficiency as 80.28% in 2014, out of which only 28.4% was treated. Remaining\nquantities were disposed in landfills or open dumps. <\/li><li>ULBs could take cue from some best\npractices followed in cities like Bangalore where Dry Waste Collection Centers\nhave not only been established but also have a self-sustainable business model.\n<\/li><li>Need to establish a monetized collection\nmodel for plastic waste that has economic returns for all those involved. <\/li><li>Virgin plastics (e.g. those used in food\npackets, etc) should be collected separately because of the higher value it\ndraws.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>National\nRules and Guidelines on Plastic Waste Management:<\/strong> The Plastic\nWaste (Management and Handling) Rules 2016, released by the MoEF in 2016, offer\na series of directives to all urban and rural local bodies (Gram Panchayats).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Leveraging\nEPRs and placing the burden on producers.<\/strong> Through a\ncombination of extended producer responsibility (EPR) levers (which can only be\nfeasibly activated with large manufacturers), as well as strict monitoring of\ninformal and unorganized producers of plastics, governments should place the\nburden of sourcing plastic waste for recycling on the producers.<\/li><li><strong>Formalize\ncollection through entrepreneurs in rural areas.<\/strong> States must\nencourage individual or SHG oriented last-mile entrepreneurs for plastics waste\ncollection and provide them with formal contracts and connecting them to\nplastics aggregation points. This can follow models similar to the \u2018Surya\nMitra\u2019 scheme launched for solar energy. Access to credit, training and other\nenabling mechanisms to local entrepreneurs should be provided as well as\nestablishing links with technologies that can use plastics as inputs.<\/li><li><strong>Calls\nfor ban<\/strong>\non plastic bags below 50 micron thickness<\/li><li>Phasing out of manufacture and sale of\nnon-recyclable <strong>Multi-Layered Plastic<\/strong>\n(example: chips packets)<\/li><li><strong>Extended\nProducer Responsibility (EPR): <\/strong>It is a concept where\nmanufacturers and importers of products bear a significant degree of\nresponsibility for the environmental impacts of their products throughout the\nproduct life-cycle, including upstream impacts inherent in the selection of\nmaterials for the products, impacts from manufacturers\u2019 production process\nitself, and downstream impacts from the use and disposal of the products.\nExtended producer responsibilities have a rich history in the West across\ndifferent industries and product categories. The Indian 2016 Plastic Waste\nManagement Rules also address the question of extended producer responsibility\n(EPR). They mandate plastic producers, importers and brand owners to contribute\nto the collection of plastic waste that is introduced by them. However, the\nrules do not lay out specific targets that have to be adopted by these\nentities. The EPR guidelines for e-waste have been made much more explicit,\nwith fixed targets for producers and distributors of electronics.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Solutions\nto deal with rising plastic pollution:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Plastics\nFor Road Construction (Mechanic Recycling):<\/strong> The 2016 Solid\nWaste Management Rules require local bodies to dispose plastics such that they\ncan be integrated into road construction as per guidelines issued by the Indian\nRoads Congress. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) guidelines on the use of\nplastics in roads have also been issued. One important additional benefit of\nadopting this process at a large scale is the generation of cottage industries\nand local employment in plastic collection and shredding.<\/li><li><strong>Plastics\nWaste To Energy: <\/strong>Both Sawach Bharat Mission (SBM) and Ministry\nof Environment and Forest (MoEF) guidelines encourage the implementation of\nwaste to energy plants. The CSIR- Indian Institute of Petroleum developed, in\n2014, a process of converting polyethylene and polypropylene to gasoline or\ndiesel. These plastics account for approximately 60% of all plastic waste.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong>\nWhile plastic has many valuable uses, we have become addicted to single-use or\ndisposable plastic with severe environmental consequences. We need to slow the\nflow of plastic at its source, but we\nalso need to improve the way we manage our plastic waste. As per UNEP report, if\ncurrent trends continue, our oceans could contain more plastic than fish by 2050. This time for all of us to wake up\nand save our lives from the choking plastic waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/editorial\/picking-out-plastic-on-recycling-and-waste-management\/article28391787.ece\">https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/editorial\/picking-out-plastic-on-recycling-and-waste-management\/article28391787.ece<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Read\u00a0In-depth analysis of all the Editorials here Context: Plastic waste and its management in India. Rapid population growth, urbanization, and industrial growth have led to severe waste management problems in cities around the world. Simultaneous development in economic prosperity and industrialization often conflict with sound environmental considerations. Globally, nearly 140 million tons of plastics are&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-picking-out-plastic-12th-july-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM | Picking out plastic | 12th July, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704764312},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}