India Stands Among Countries Worst That Are Affected By Plastic, Read The Facts To Believe It
India's plastic bane.
Despite India producing only one-tenth of the plastic produced in the US and managing to recycle almost 60 per cent of the total plastic produced, India too has caused its share of damage to the environment and nature.
Big cities, cities, town or even the remote hinterland, plastic is ubiquitous and is causing damage to India＊s ecological balance which eventually comes back to haunt us. Though if seen globally, the crisis in India is relatively less grave but citing the population and increase in usage in plastic over some year, it won＊t take much to make it a concern.
Also read: Meet 13 Families That Have Declared War On Plastic Across The World
Therefore, India needs to act as the precaution is always better than cure.
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Here are some facts about plastic waste that India should know about and act to contain the usage of plastic.
India generates 1500 trucks of plastic waste a day
Though the government believes that India generates around 25,940 tonnes of plastic a day currently, the last credible study was done by Central Pollution Control Board and published in assessment report 2015 suggest that Indian cities generate 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste which is enough to fill 1500 trucks a day across the Indian cities. This report certainly excludes the plastic waste generated from town and rural India.
※The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) conducted a study in 60 major cities of India. It has been estimated that around 4059 T/day of plastic waste is generated from these cities. Extrapolating this plastic waste generation data from 60 major cities to the entire country, it is estimated that around 25,940 T/day of plastic waste is generated in India,§ Minister Of Environment and Forest, Mahesh Sharma replied to the question in Lok Sabha in February this year.
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India recycles better than the US and Europe, but is it good enough?
According to the CPCB study, India recycles almost 60 per cent of the waste generated which puts it ahead of countries like the US, Japan and even the Europe as globally only 91 per cent of the plastic waste is recycled and rest is dumped- wherever they feel they should.
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Water bottles are the biggest source of plastic waste, as globally one million plastic bottles are bought every minute and minutes later thrown away. But India recycles almost 90 per cent of the Polyethylene Terephthalate or PET, the plastic from which water bottles and food containers are manufactured.
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According to the study by scientists from Council Of Scientist Of Industrial Research (CSIR) and National Chemical Laboratory, Out of the 900-kilotonnes of PET produced in India annually, 65 per cent is recycled at registered facilities, 15 per cent in the unorganised sector and 10 per cent is reused at homes. The rest ends up throwing away.
The PET recycling rate in Japan is 72.1 % , Europe recycles 48.3 percent of PET and the US which is the biggest user of PET only recycles 31 per cent of the waste.
But India too has a share in damaging the environment
The word witnesses over 300 million tonnes of plastic waste globally and nearly 8 million tonnes is dumped into oceans. India too contributes massively as according to a 2015 report published in Science Journal, India is at 12th in list of top 20 countries dumping insane amount of plastic into the oceans. The study has the amount of plastic entering the sea from coastlines of 192 countries. China ranks first, followed by countries in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa.
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"The top 20 countries, including India, account for 83% of all the mismanaged waste available to enter the ocean," said Jambeck, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Georgia in the US.
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Another example is that Ganges and Brahmaputra are among ten rivers around the world that carry the maximum amount of plastic debris into the seas. According to the study of Christian Schmidt and Stephan Wagner of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Germany, 57 of the world＊s rivers carry between 0.4 and 40 lakh tonnes of plastic waste down to the open oceans every year. And 10 of these rivers carry 90 percent of the plastic debris and three-Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra of these rivers flow through India.
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Major categories of the plastic used in India
1. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) 每 PET bottles, plastic jars, containers
2. High density polyethylene (HDP) 每 Milk bottles, liquid soap and shampoo bottles, detergent cans
3. Low-density polyethylene (LDP) 每 Plastic chairs, flooring, tiles, curtains, carrier bags, bin liners
4. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) 每 PVC pipes, door and window frames, automotive parts
5. Polypropylene (PP) 每 Plastic corks, plastic bottle caps, battery casing
6.Polystyrene (PS) 每 Food packaging, food containers, disposable plastic ware, electronic goods and toys, insulating material used in construction industry
7. Polyamides (PA) 每 Tubing, toothbrush bristles
India dares to ban poly bags, but ambiguity rules
Across the country, 18 states including newly inducted Maharashtra has banned the use of plastic carry bags known as polythenes. This number would go to 25 if we consider partial ban imposed by a few states and UTs at the selective place such religious sites etc. But despite it truck of plastic waste which includes polythenes are taken out in states where the use of plastic bags is banned.
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But, the lack of clear rules makes the way as according to Plastic Management Rules 2016, ※ The Rules prohibit the use of plastic bags with the thickness less than 50 microns. However, the provision of thickness is not applicable to carry bags made up of compostable plastic.§
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Delhi leads and others follow
Out of the 15, 342 tonnes of plastic waste generated daily, Delhi generates around 690 tonnes of waste daily making it the largest generator of the plastic waste followed by Chennai with 429.4 tonnes per day, Kolkata with 425.7 tonnes per day and Mumbai with 408.3 tonnes of plastic waste a day.
