Page 42 - Plastics News June 2019

FEATURES

establish Integrated Waste Management System. Accenture Waste (AEPW), currently made up of nearly 30 member
estimates there will be a US$ 4.5 Trillion global opportunity companies, has committed over $1 billion with the goal
by 2030 in waste management space waiting for disruptive of investing $1.5 billion over the next five years to help
technologies and innovative solutions to grab a pie of it. end plastic waste in the environment. The Alliance will
develop and bring to scale solutions that will minimize
The primary agenda of course is to bridge the information
gap between the Waste Generators, Waste Pickers, Waste and manage plastic waste and promote solutions for used
Processors and tackle the demand & supply mismatch. plastics by helping to enable a circular economy. The
Secondly, digital solutions that bring in transparency, Alliance membership represents global companies and
traceability, accountability to all the stake holders is the located throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia,
need of the hour. These solutions not only streamline Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and includes
the operations but also provide valuable insights of oil majors Shell, Exxon Mobil and Total. The Alliance
waste generation and the effect to which it is managed is a not-for-profit organization that includes chemical
efficiently thus bringing in data centric approach and and plastic manufacturers, consumer goods companies,
measurability to the industry. retailers, converters and waste management companies.
The Alliance has been working with the World Business
We need to……. Council for Sustainable Development as a founding
strategic partner.
Promote responsible manufacturing and marketing
At the World Environment Day summit on June 5, 2018 in
• Promote responsible consumption
New Delhi, Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan, in
• Consumption of packaged products leads to urban the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had pledged
waste to eliminate single-use plastics from India by 2022. This
• India’s growing middle class is the largest threat was lauded by then UN Environment Chief, Erik Solheim.
The final declaration on March 15, 2019 removed the
• Large scale social engineering needed to bring about firm timelines and edited out the “decisively” and only
behavioural changes committed to a “reduction by 2030.” “…We will address the
• Just like many other problems facing the society, damage to our ecosystems caused by the unsustainable use
there are no simple answers. So we must avoid and disposal of plastic products, including by significantly
offering simple solutions reducing single-use plastic products by 2030, and we
will work with the private sector to find affordable and
• We need to change the perspectives of the society, environment friendly alternatives…” says the document
government and the industry, in small and measured available on the UNEA ((UNITED NATIONS environment
manner agency website.)However, India was appreciated for
Three questions that a consumer is likely to playing a key role in advocating a time-bound ban on
ask? single use plastic.

Is the product I am using “safe” for me? Where do we go from here…..
Is the product I am using made with thelowest impact Today, only 2% of global plastic production is bio-based,
on the resources of the planet? What will happen to this according to the American Lux Research. But experts
product after my “use”? Where will it end up finally? caution that bioplastics, while useful, are no panacea
for pollution. This is because the key culprit today is the
Our relationship with nature has changed radically, lack of awareness among people, who don’t segregate
irreversibly, but by no means all for the bad. Our new their waste. A large amount of the discarded plastic
epoch is laced with invention. Our mistakes are legion, but today wouldn’t be an environmental hazard in the first
our talent is immeasurable” However, we cannot afford place, if it were properly recycled. The Maharashtra
to make more mistakes; the society will not forgive us, plastics ban on many items has changed the perspective
even if we do In Jan 2019 an alliance of global companies a long way indeed and is now the announcement is more
has launched a new organization to advance solutions to than year old on March 23, 2019. The lessons have been
eliminate plastic waste in the environment, especially in many, EPR implementation is on its way still the journey
the ocean.The cross value chain Alliance to End Plastic
is long…………..

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