The menace of
single use plastic is growing at a pace far higher than IPv6 enabled IOT devices
or advances in semiconductor or nanotechnology. At one side, science is growing
to newer horizons tackling many of the problems we inherited. But on the other
side, science is also trying to catch up to finding solutions for the problems we
created. In the last two decades, the availability and applicability of single
use plastics has grown to over 200 times (sic). A byproduct of the hydrocarbon
industry (crude oil), plastic has revolutionized our way of life for the good,
bad and ugly. While the world over is slowly changing our energy source from
Hydrocarbons to other environmentally sustainable sources, it is only natural
that we should start finding ways to reduce the use and dispose of plastics.
Photographic evidences of uninhabited Henderson islands[1]
in the middle of Pacific littered with plastic waste and Albatross caraccas
with plastic inside the body[2]
are defining moments that should open our eyes and thoughts to start finding
solutions to the real-world problems.
Figure 1:
Plastic littered beach, Henderson Islands
Figure 2:
Plastic from a dead Albatross
The solution
is simple, reduce use of plastics and recycle them to clean the mess we have
created. It is not the ‘what’ that is perplexing, it is the ‘how’, ‘who’ and
‘when’. To answer the most important of these on ‘who’ – well I don’t know of
an alien species that will come and do this for us. And for the ‘when’, we
already missed the bus. But let’s try to run up and catch it.
Before going
to the ‘how’, let’s have a quick look on other global initiatives undertaken
and how countries like India can turn the tide over. We will take the most
recent example of reduction in the tariff for photovoltaic cells that lead
economies like India to take a leap and the global Solar energy production to
shoot over its own projection by manifolds. Back in 2015 during the Climate
convention in Paris (COP21), a reluctant India became the make or break factor
in getting the Paris Agreement ratified. India had the intent to reduce on
Carbon emissions but was reluctant to sign the accord before an alternate
cheaper solution to its growing energy needs was available. Everyone knew Solar
Energy is one of the key substitutes, but it wasn’t cheap then. The cost of
import was tremendously high and there were no companies willing to do a
technology transfer that will let India be self-reliant for manufacturing Solar
panels in India. At last India agrees to sign the accord following an assurance
of having the IP rights from Solar City (it’s an Elon Musk company) and a low
interest long-term load from World Bank specific to installing rooftop solar
panels. India also pledges to have an installed capacity of 100GW by 2022. It
was a win-win for everyone. The prices of Photovoltaic films have come down
from around $7 per Wp of Solar Power in 2007 to less than $1 in 2018[3].
Likewise, the installed capacity during the same period increased from 100 GW
to 1 TW[4].
And, India is one of the biggest Solar markets and the projection of 175 GW by
2022 will in most probability be surpassed. Developing economies like India,
can make a difference globally.
India is also
a world leader in micro-retailing – a phenomenon where FMCG products in very
small quantities are sold at affordable prices to the masses. Hair Oil &
Hair Shampoo sachets at ₹1,
mouth fresheners at ₹2 and
fried snacks at ₹5 are few
examples. The sachets are made from single use plastics and if you have been
once to India, you will notice shiny packets all along the roadsides. While the
concept of micro-retail is a relief for most of the population with lower
purchasing power, the environmental impacts the discarded packing materials
throw is beyond manageable. Such single use plastics would easily make for the
largest chunk in the landfills and our plastic waste problems. It is with these
backgrounds I want to try and suggest on a few ways on the ‘how’ – how to
tackle the single use plastic waste issue polluting the whole world, including
the marine ecosystems.
Figure 3: A meme on
plastic in Sea-food
Government of
India has tried many times to bring in legislation aimed at reducing the
plastic usage. The recent ban in Maharashtra in 2018 where all Retail shops (at
least the medium to big ones) stopped providing plastic carry bags and switched
to cloth or other biodegradable materials. It started off well but soon veered
off the runway. Retail chains have started using plastics (they may be beyond
the 50-micrometer threshold, but still is plastic) for retail packaging, but
still sticks to the carry bags made of cloth. Even then, many products like
milk could be in plastic bags. This was a clear message – that we lack the
intent and whatever we were doing was only namesake. This must change and now.
We need to regroup, rethink, re-strategize and re-invent.
Figure 4: National
Geographic Cover
Challenge the Status-quo: First thing
first, plastic cannot be this cheap given the price we are paying. There are
already many grades of plastic available for various uses. A few regulations
should be brought that will make virgin plastics manifold costlier than
recycled plastics. This is intended to make the industries re-strategize on
their product packing and limit virgin plastics to critical uses like for
medical equipment, automobile industry etc. and, make the petroleum industry
rethink on their business model around plastic. When presented with a challenge
that will shake the business foundations, industries always have come up with
innovation. It is the go-easy attitude we have on plastics that’s letting the
industry on its current course.
Food packaging: Just as the Automobile
industry was regulated for CO2 emissions and asked to upgrade their
line up to BS6 standards, we need to have a phased approach to phase-out single
use plastics by the year 2030 (yes, we don’t have much time and we need to act
fast before the world become one big landfill). Canada aims to ban single use
plastics by 2021[6].
Start with labeling plastics as virgin
or recycled (with % or recycled plastic used). The Food Safety Regulator
(FSSAI) can start by imposing a food package policy that will lay out clear guidelines
on what materials can be used for packing FMCG food and dairy products. For
products with shorter shelf life, like milk, we need to go back to glass
bottles with a buyback policy. Let the scientific community mull on the real
need to have so much of food-grade plastic for packaging. Why cannot we use
semi-recycled or fully-recycled plastic to package dry-food items like bread
and biscuits? Cakes and other bakery products, chocolate bars need to be packed
in double – butter paper inside and paper outside.
Beverages: This is far more challenging
as use of aerated, sugary, alcoholic beverages are on the rise and we don’t
seem to have any concerns on the health hazards. Nevertheless, we need to have
clear strategies on reducing the impact PET bottles cause to nature. When I
watch videos of large scale plastic recycling, the one thing that stands out is
the printed brand label. Getting them off the bottle before shredding the PET
bottle for recycling is important as both are different grade plastics. The PET
industry needs to come up with innovative solutions to replace these plastic
labels altogether. Brands emblems and product name engraved on the bottle body,
printing directly on them like they dot-print the prices and manufacturing date
etc. can be some of the ways. Such bottles should be made easier to recycle.
Sorting at Source: Responsibility of
managing the plastic wastes must lie with the user and we need to do more than
just throw them as trash. It’s not the manufacturer and certainly not the government
or any other local bodies/NGOs who has to clean the mess. Yes, the government
needs to create laws to regulate use and dispose of plastics, and ensure they
are implemented. But is high time the people own this. Think about it, why
would someone pick your waste and dump them afar for you? While it may help
clean your surroundings, but isn’t the dumpsite in the Earth too? how long can
we continue to look away and hope someone will do it? Recently, media reported
of a Japanese Town that has become zero-waste[7].
The residents wash, sort and pack the wastes in 34 categories and even take
them to the town’s sorting centers where 80% of them are recycled. They made
tremendous progress since this was enacted in 2003. While it may sound
difficult at the beginning, this becomes a way of life. And cities cannot
really afford to keep doing the way we are doing now, this is not a sustainable
way to deal with our wastes. Many cities now have a sorting mechanism where dry
and wet wastes are collected separately, though I doubt the effectiveness. Such
works are outsourced to vendors who collect them and take to a processing
facility or a landfill. Households, housing societies/colonies etc. need to
step up. Take for example the simple milk packets. They must be washed, dried and
stored before disposing. In cities, housing societies can play a crucial role.
Many housing societies already have wet waste compost pits and make
bio-composts, some even market them. Going a step further, they need to have
plastic shredders installed to shred sorted plastic to different categories and
only dispose them to designated waste management companies. The can reclaim the
shredding costs from the recycling companies who would pay them for the clean,
sorted and shredded recyclable plastic. Housing societies can even sell these
to the highest bidder. For smaller towns/villages, these needs to be done at a
ward/panchayath/village level with fortnightly or monthly waste collections. Waste
collection companies shall not accept any untreated/sorted wastes; if they
must, they need to do it on a premium cost.
Sorting at
source also serves another purpose – it saves space. The current landfills are
dump yards where wastes are dumped without processing. They eat space and
causes irreversible environmental impacts. Compressing, shredding etc. makes
plastic wastes not only easy to recycle but also requires far less space.
Figure 5:
Shredding machine (small)
Moving to a Plastic Economy:
Regulations mentioned above aim at making virgin plastic less accessible and
encouraging recycling. With supply of virgin plastics reduced, industries will
be forced to work on recycling plastics. World over, enthusiasts,
entrepreneurs, environmental activists, conservationists, scientists have found
ways to make use of plastic wastes in variety of ways. Some of them includes
using plastic wastes for roads, recycled products (RPET), using as Carbon
source in the recycling of crap steel, electricity generation using IGCC
(Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle), making filaments for 3D printers etc[8].
Dr. Madhu S of Highway Research Institute of India has formulated a road
surface including plastic wastes along with the usual products to make roads
that are more rain resistant and durable. I am compelled to imagine on the
positive impacts a nation-wide regulation can bring in mandating use of
plastics in road construction. Our current Minster for Road Transport &
Highways is a vocal proponent of this idea and I see no reason this should not
be implemented. Another area that can bring in wider impact is construction
industry. Recent developments show promising use of plastics in Roofing Tiles,
Concrete, Indoor Insulation, Structural Lumbar, PVC windows, Bricks and Fences[9]
among others.
And that leads
to the exciting front of developing a plastic-based economy serving global
markets. We have produced enough wastes already to serve every road to be
built/repaired, all civil constructions to ever take place. India can take a
lead if we formulate the right policies and have enough Budget for more R&D
into Plastic Recycling and subsidies to Recycling industries, India can become
a net-exporter of recycled plastics.
