Page 74 - Plastics News January 2023

REPORT

Plastic world’s inventions to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Indian plastic industry market is one of the leading sectors in the country’s
economy. The history of the plastic industry in India dates to 1957 with the
production of polystyrene. Since then, the industry has made substantial
progress and has grown rapidly. The Indian plastics industry employs about
50 lakh workers and comprises around 50,000 processing units and 3,000 ex-
porters. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) of the union
government, around 90% of the processing units are small and medium-
sized enterprises (May 2021).
As the plastics industry is constantly evolving, companies and manufacturers
are continually looking for new ways to meet consumer demands and new
regulations resulting in a various ways of innovations. Here we’re taking a
look at some of the most interesting and exciting inventions in the plastic
world.
Plastic Parks – Ten Plastic parks have been approved in the country by The
Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals. Among these, 6 plastic parks have received final approval from the fol-
lowing states – Madhya Pradesh (2 parks), Assam (1 park), Tamil Nadu (1 park), Odisha (1 park) and Jharkhand (1 park).
These parks are intended to boost employment and attain environmentally sustainable growth. These parks have great
potential for attracting investments and generating more employment opportunities for the local population. AIPMA has
been instrumental in setting up these plastic parks

Plastic Roads – Plastic Road lasts three times the expected lifes-
pan of standard roads, is made from 100% recycled material, and
is said to be “the ideal sustainable alternative to conventional road
structures. It would be a great sustainable solution because asphalt
is unsustainable, brittle and contributes to over 1.6 million tons of
carbon dioxide around the world each year.
The Circular Economy – Underpinning a more sustainable use
of plastic is the idea of a circular economy where the same raw
materials are recycled over and over again, reducing the need to
extract or create them anew. A circular economy keeps plastic in a
closed loop that helps prevent it leaking into the environment, and
as new plastic products are made from already existing plastic, it
avoids the need to extract more fossil fuels to create plastic. In addi-
tion, repurposing plastics in personal care products helps build a cir-
cular economy. By partnering with personal care companies, consum-
ers get the chance to send in empty bottles, tubes and containers for
proper sterilization. Once sterilized, these packaging containers can
be sent back to their manufacturers to be refilled. Along with the new
inventions, it is also necessary to collect and segregate and dispose off
the plastic in an appropriate manner.

The waste management system is the collection, transportation, dis-
posal/ recycling and monitoring of waste. The waste material is man-
aged to avoid its adverse effect over human health and environment.
Most of the time, waste is managed to get resources from it.

Recycling plastics helps the environment by diverting ocean-bound plastics, reducing greenhouse gases and limiting en-
ergy consumption. Plastic recycling also helps reduce carbon footprint.

74 PLASTICS NEWS January 2023