eonEcon Foundation » The Reality of Plastics Issue in India

The Reality of Plastics Issue in India

September 13th, 2007 | Category: Plastics

Benefits:

With the diverse properties that plastics have, they are used in a wide range of areas. Plastics can have the properties of rigidity, flexibility, retention, insulation, conduction, strength, abrasion, scratch resistance etc. They can very easily be processed into variety of articles of use like:

i) Plastics could be used in agriculture for making irrigation pipes, films for green houses, plastic film for seed germination, plastic nets etc. PVC sheets are more permeation resistant than clay and are thus used in canals, lake liners and dams. Polymers are used in arid and semi- arid areas to conserve water. Plastic packaging offers food safety solution.
ii) Plastics increase the life span of fishing nets, ropes as well as boats, thus, contributing to the fishing industry as well.
iii) Plastics and polymers have been increasingly used in the desalination of sea water and hence enabling provision of potable drinking water to the public.
iv) Polymeric Membrane module can b used to save energy in boilers, furnaces, cryogenic operations and even for supplying oxygen.
v) Plastics are used for packaging drugs, in making medical devices like hearing aids, implants like knee caps, tooth caps as well as medical disposables like PVC blood bags, PP syringes etc.
vi) Plastics have been classified as Food Contact Substances (Source: FDA Consumer, November- December 2002)
vii) Plastics have increasingly replaced many wood made products and hence contributed in saving our forests.
viii) Plastics do not require frequent painting and can safely and profitably replace aluminium and steel at lower cost, thus reducing the overall capital investment.
ix) Plastic usage results in energy saving throughout the time when its manufactured as well as its usage.

Energy Requirements for Production of Materials Used in Packaging:

Energy Requirements for Production of Materials Used in Packaging:

Material	kWh/Kg
Aluminium	74.1
Steel	13.9
Glass	7.9
Paper	7.1
Plastics	3.1

Source: I. Boustead and G.F. Hancock- Energy and Packaging
J.E. Juliet-Plast. Engg.

x) Plastics help in making packaging more convenient and also conserve resources.

Issues Concerning Plastics: Reality & Solutions

Issue	Reality	Solution
Plastics are not recyclable. The ones that are recycled get back into the consumer cycle in the form of toys or utensils etc.	i) Plastics are 100% recyclable.	There is a need to introduce organized recycling of plastics so that they do not become a part of the consumer chain in a manner that can be harmful.
	ii) In our country 60% plastic is recycled as compared to world average of 22%.
Plastic bags choke drains & hence cause floods.	i) The actual cause of choking is dumping of waste in open drains.	i) Better waste management required.
	ii) Plmetroesastics form <1% of municipal waste in cities & <5% in metroes.	ii) Cleaning of drains & sewers needs to be regulated.
Plastics are sometimes considered unsafe & toxic.	i) Plastics are classified as food contact substances by FDA.	Again the problem here is the end use of plastics and the kind of plastic which can be checked through organized segregation and recycling.
	ii) Plastics are used world over in child-care products, personal care, medical care, milk pouch, tooth brush etc.
Plastics are said to deplete resources.	In reality plastics are very resource efficient packaging material.	Consumers need to become conscious of excessive consumption behaviour & resource management needs to be introduced in every sphere because everything we do consumes some amount of resources for sure.

Plastics are the main cause of the litter menace.	People litter and not plastics.	i) Most of the developed world segregates their dry & wet waste.
		ii) National laws for segregation have not been implemented in India.
		iii) Infrastrucure & supporrt is required for better waste management.
Plastic bags do not have any re-use.	i) Plastic bags can be used for re-packaging non-consumable products or products that do not come in direct skin contact with humans.	Again, the issue here is the end-use and unorganized disposal.
	ii) Plastic bags can be re-used in making: mats, construction of roads, making low-end moulded articles, barsati film, manufacture of industrial fuel etc.

Hence, the real issue pertaining to plastics is that:

We need to manage plastic disposal more responsibly and organize it, to do away the various problems because, plastics as such are an extremely good resource for many industries as mentioned before. Once policies are in place, people need to be educated about waste management, know what kind of things they can throw, where they can do so, how they can manage it at their places and what to do with the collected plastic waste. Thus, segregation of waste and waste management especially in the form of recycling management is an essential task for our cities and streets to become free of the plastic menace.