Page 13 - Plastics News March 2020

AipmA At work

National Innovation Day Event at Lady Irwin College, University of

Delhi

IPMA also engaged with the Department of Resource Shailendra Singh offered a presentation throwing the
AManagement & Design Application at Lady Irwin light on the current situation of the plastic industries in
College, University of Delhi on 3rd February 2020. The India, their struggles due to various new amendments,
event was organized by college students, with the theme the challenges in using the alternatives to plastic etc.
‘Innovation Day Program’- titled: - Plastic-O-Thon: Reuse, The presentation was appreciated by one and all as it
Remedy & Substitute. presented a completely different view on the plastic
It included Symposium waste management and recycling other than the one that
& Competitive events is commonly prevalent in today’s society. Everyone today
with a vision that, believes that plastic is not a necessity without considering
in the present-day our heavy dependence on the wonder material.
scenario it is important Also, people have not considered viability and sustainability
to not only sensitize of the replacements like glass, wood, jute and paper,
the youngsters towards which are often counted as alternatives that we can move
environment protection on to. The audience appreciated AIPMA’s view that the
but also adopt correct above mentioned substituting materials generate higher
practices, particularly carbon emissions overall vis-à-vis plastic, especially if we
concerning the single use plastics (SUPs). The symposium use a cotton bag instead of a plastic bag. Moreover, the
as well as competitive events provided an opportunity energy consumption in glass generation is much higher
for students to rethink about the alternative solutions to
plastic, their feasibility and sustainability in the long run.
AIPMA engagement was two-fold as a speaker as well as
a sponsor in this event as our aim was to reach out to
the University students. Mr. Shailendra Singh, Member of
the Environment Committee, represented AIPMA at the
occasion as the key speaker. The event witnessed other
speakers from varied organizations like Dr. Bindu Ranjan,
Head, NID, Delhi Center, Prof. Vijayraghawan Chariar,
CRDT, IIT Delhi, Dr. S. K. Nigam, Advisor, Department of
Environment, Ar. Parag Anand, Head, Industrial Design, SPA
to name a few. Students across colleges and universities than that of plastic. Plus, we must consider in the case
were invited to participate in the design competitions. of paper usage, where are we going to get so much paper
to replace plastic completely? Are we suggesting more
deforestation as the paper comes from tree pulp and
what will be the global impact of such a step? Therefore,
AIPMA’s overall perspective was appreciated to let all see
the bigger issue from all possible angles. It is clear that
doing away with plastic is easier said than done and that
practical solutions should be suggested instead of blaming
plastic industries for the waste that is littered or under-
managed by the government and civil society.

13 March 2020 Plastics News