Page 28 - Plastics News September 2019

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especially in business-to-consumer applications, and a were at around $6.5 billion, says Bheda. On the share
majority of it is discarded the same year it is produced. of single-use plastics, he says, while the exact share of
Such plastics are problematic because they are not VLQJOH XVH SODVWLFV LV GLIÀFXOW WR HVWLPDWH LW FRXOG EH OHVV
biodegradable. In India, the Ministry of Chemicals and than 10 per cent of the total plastic processed by these
)HUWLOL]HUV IRUPHG D FRPPLWWHH LQ -DQXDU\ WR GHÀQH 50,000 odd units.
SUPs and prepare a roadmap for its elimination. In the four :RXOG DIIHFW FRPPRQ PDQ
committee meetings that have been held since, however,
WKH GHÀQLWLRQ KDV UHPDLQHG HOXVLYH 7KHUH LV DQ XUJHQW FMCG companies; air conditioner, fridge and other
GLUH QHHG WR DJUHH RQ D GHÀQLWLRQ RI 683V DORQJ ZLWK D consumer appliance manufacturers; e-commerce;
FOHDU JXLGHOLQH GHÀQLQJ WKH VFRSH DQG FKDOOHQJH RI WKH hospitality; and restaurant along with small retail
problem and a clear approach and steps that could be shop owners and grocery stores use single-use plastic
taken on the ground. for product delivery.The burden of a plastic ban will
disproportionately affect the poor. From milk and biscuit
The European Union, for instance, describes 'single-use packets to toiletry sachets and plastic bags, the low cost
plastics' as plastics as products made of plastic such of plastic packaging makes a number of essential goods
as cotton-bud sticks, cutlery, plates, straws, sticks accessible and affordable to the poor. Any increase in
for balloons, cups, food, beverage containers made packaging costs will directly affect the disposable incomes
of polystyrene and products made of oxo-degradable of the poor.
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per cent recyclable material with thickness greater than :KLOH \RXU VXSHUPDUNHW FDQ ZHOO DIIRUG WR FKDUJH \RX 5V
50 microns and a minimum 20% recycled content as non- 10 for the plastic bag, the fruit and vegetable vendor on
the street cannot. At the margin, the additional friction
and inconvenience of having to bring your own bag is likely
WR ZRUN DJDLQVW WKH VPDOO YHQGRU :KHQ ZH VHHN :HVWHUQ
fads at Indian levels of income, the economic cost of our
perceived moral rectitude will be borne by the poor.
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Rather than any move to impose a ban, there should also
be equal emphasis on recycling and waste management.
"Given the size and scale of India we are talking of a need
for a very comprehensive waste collection, segregation

single use plastic," says an Amazon India spokesperson. and waste management eco-system to be in place,
That implies plastic below 50 microns with less than 20 which could take multi- billion dollar investment. India
per cent recycled content makes for single-use plastic. KDV 3ODVWLF :DVWH 0DQDJHPHQW 5XOHV 2QH RI LWV
key obligations is to have industries that make products
Size of Plastic Industry that ultimately employ plastic (and generate plastic

AIPMA maintains India's plastic industry recorded an annual ZDVWH FROOHFW D À[HG SHUFHQWDJH HYHU\ \HDU 7KH 6WDWH
revenue worth Rs 3.5-lakh crore in FY19. This was spread Pollution Control Boards as well municipalities have the
across 50,000 processing units, the bulk of these being responsibility to ensure that plastic waste is collected
small and medium enterprises. It is one of the fastest- and sent to recycling units. Compared to other countries
growing industries in India as it sees its fortunes linked to such as the U.S. and China, India has very low per capita
the growth of every other industry. These units, according generation of plastic waste. However, in real terms, this is
to Bheda, consume around 22 million metric tonnes per quite substantial and nearly 10,000 tonnes of plastic waste
annum of plastic raw material, including recycled plastics is left uncollected every day. Studies by organisations like
(roughly about 8 million metric tonnes recycled plastic). 7KH (QHUJ\ 5HVRXUFHV ,QVWLWXWH 7(5, RQ ODQGÀOOV KDYH
Besides, some part of the total raw plastic material is found that 10.96% of waste was only plastic and of these,
also exported -- it was to the tune of around $4.5 billion non-recyclable plastics accounted for 9.6%. The disparity
in FY19, while the exports of processed plastic products is because certain kinds of plastic, such as PET bottles

Plastics News September 2019 28