Page 7 - Plastics News August 2020

Concern over the PPE Waste
While the rise in PPE (personal protective equipment) numbers is helping save lives,
its disposal is a major cause of concern world over, however, India has a solution.
Indian researchers are pooling their expertise to convert discarded PPE and other
plastic waste of the pandemic into fuel or pellets that can be moulded into
automobile parts or used for road construction.
According to scientist C.V. Rode the work on sanitising waste materials is already
under way at the IIP and the CMERI. The waste will be shredded and then
agglomerated into standardised plastic pellets. Based on the properties of the pellets
produced, the researchers will work with industry partners to decide their potential
applications. The pellets, he added, can be moulded into automobile parts, or plastic
covers, or be used in road construction. India has been employing plastic waste in
road construction since 2016. Moreover the pyrolysis of plastics is one of the methods
to mitigate our energy crisis. The prospect, therefore, is not just of proper PPE waste
management but also production of liquid fuel, which is clean and has fuel properties
similar to fossil fuels.
While India is working on recycling Plastics waste, concerns are rising across Europe
that the coronavirus-induced slump in oil prices could knock demand for recycled
plastics but data is still patchy on how the pandemic has affected the amount of trash
piling up, the European Union's environment chief said.

As lockdowns around the world caused a drop in demand for fossil fuels, oil prices
have plummeted this year, making virgin plastics even cheaper than recycled versions
of the material. That could spell trouble for EU plans to improve recycling rates. The
EU generates around 26 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Only 30% of that is
recycled. “We are concerned about potential disruption of the markets for recycled
plastics caused by the low prices of crude oil, and also about littering of disposable
masks and gloves,” EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius told Reuters
in a written interview. “At this stage, we do not yet have sufficient aggregated data to
make reliable conclusions on the impact of the coronavirus crisis on plastic waste
generation, separate collection, sorting, recycling or littering.”

The EU will ban some single-use plastics next year and EU leaders have agreed last
month to introduce a bloc-wide tax on non-recyclable plastic packaging waste, to
help raise funds for Europe's recovery from the economic chaos wrought by the virus.
India's plastic waste problem is not as huge as the rich worlds but we need to work on it
as well. Following the SWM principle of 'segregation at source' and using plastics in
road making, hopefully things shall gradually fall in place. However what is required is
to create greater awareness across the country to ensure a conducive system persists
for recycling thus helping us to strike a balance..
We wish you a Happy Independence Day..

August 2020 5 Plastics News