PLASTIC POLLUTION & GOVERNMENT ACTION : ARE WE ON RIGHT TRACK ?
By
A lot has been said and publicized about the grave status of environmental pollution due to plastic carry bags. Now the din has somewhat subsided after the government came out with a notification and a few shops at least have stopped supplying carry bags. Scientifically speaking, the whole scenario looks amusing and least convincing.
The Recycled Plastic Manufacture and Usage Rule 1999 of the Ministry of Environment of Government of India essentially makes two stipulations:
(i) The minimum thickness of all carry bags will have to be more than 20 microns.
(ii) Recycled plastics shall not be used for storing, dispensing or packaging of foodstuffs.
The most disturbing fact is that the use of thin and recycled plastics has not been altogether banned! These can still be used for purposes other than the ones covered by the above rules! Hence the environmental protection from plastics will remain only as a myth!
The enforcement of the above rules is also in jeopardy as neither the thickness of the plastic sheet nor its virginity (i.e. no recycled) can be easily assessed in day-to-day life. Very sensitive Gauges, which are normally available only in laboratories, are needed for measurement of thickness of plastics. The rule does not make it clear if the average thickness should be more than 20 microns or in no part of a given plastic bag the thickness shall be less than 20 microns. There could be more legal nuances on this: If a plastic bag is found to have an average thickness of 19 microns, should the supplier be booked? If a bag has an average thickness of 21 microns, does it qualify to be ecologically safe? Regarding the second stipulation, the recycled nature of any given plastic can only be determined through complicated chemical tests in a laboratory and hence cannot be verified easily to enforce the rule.
It may be appropriate here to provide some technical background to the plastic pollution per se and the thoughts behind the government action. The term "plastic" has a Greek origin in "Plastikos" referring to "mouldables". The "Plastics" encompass all polymers such as Polyethylene (PE- low density used in polybags; high density used in crates for soft drinks), Polystyrene (PS- used for food packaging, disposable utensils and foam packaging), Polyamides (Nylon- used for making ropes, toys etc), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC- used for electrical wiring insulation, foot wear etc), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET-used for soft drink and mineral water bottles) and Acrylonitrate Butadiene Styrene (ABS- used for automobile parts) .
The first-ever plastic was made by Alexander Parkes in 1862 and was named Parkestine. The first large scale plastic plant was put up by Du Pont Company in 1914; however plastics became popular only in the fifties. The problem of pollution due to plastics is only less than 50 years old. The single hurting factor is that plastics are non-biodegradable. The biodegradability varies depending upon the type of plastics and it is estimated that the commonly used PVC bags might require nearly a million year to get degraded in the environment! The other concern is that plastics can slowly release toxins in the environment. Phthalates and trace heavy metals (colored plastics contain trace heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury etc.) can slowly leach out even at room temperature. If plastics are burnt, toxic fumes containing dioxins are released to the environment. All of these releases cause serious health effects including cancer. The wisdom of the government to get behind thin plastic carry-bags arises from a peculiar reason: only the thin plastic bags are not being removed from the environment by the rag pickers as these do not fetch enough remuneration to them. (They are paid a pittance by weight of the plastics collected). There cannot be a more ridiculous thinking than this. If one walks around the streets and carefully notice the discarded plastics jostling around, it will become obvious that the thin plastic bags hardly constitute 50% of the lot; the rest are all plastic coffee/tea cups, all kinds of packages picked from stores such as oil pouches, bags used for cereals, locally sealed thin PVC bags used for loose sales, broken plastic bottles etc. All of these can cause an ecological disaster over a period of time by slowly sinking into the earth and blocking the under water channels and damaging the water table; or, they may reach various drainage channels and ultimately cause flooding. As for the thin plastic bags containing leftover food items, there is danger of stray cattle consuming them and suffer intestinal suffocation. Plastic wastes reaching the sea can damage badly the sea animals. Recycled plastics are in fact down graded plastics, which can more easily release the toxins. Hence they can more readily contaminate food items if used for packaging.
Stipulating a minimum limit for the thickness of the plastics will naturally encourage manufacture of thicker plastic bags, which effectively means more plastics by weight in the environment. If recycled plastics are banned and even if the demand remains pegged at the present level, it will be necessary to have more production of raw materials for virgin plastics making. Estimated plastic waste in India is about 1-4% of total municipal solid waste (~ 80,000 tons per day). About 60% of plastic waste is recycled in India and one would imagine that the raw materials suppliers will have a field day with the banning of recycled plastics! There are only two companies supplying these raw materials to plastics manufacturers: Reliance Company (holding a market share of nearly 65%) and Indian Petrochemical Corporation Ltd. It is very curious to find that these companies had a representation in the National Plastic Waste Management Task Force constituted by the Ministry Of Environment & Forests upon whose recommendations the afore discussed Rule was notified by the Central Government. Equally interesting is the fact that the Recycled Plastics Manufactures Association was not given a representation. Do we see an organized commercial interest behind this rule? In Pollution Abatement the general dictum is to focus on three "R"s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. The present ruling enforced by all the Pollution Control Boards is grossly violating this golden principle.
What is really needed is a balanced approach weighing Benefit against
Risk and a concerted effort on all fronts to preserve the environment. Plastics have come to stay and help us conserving our natural resources. With the galloping population and our increased needs, the plastics have a great role to play in the manufacture of various consumer goods including furniture, toys, bottles, automobile and aircraft parts etc. Just as Environmental Management Plans are insisted upon all industrial projects for obtaining licenses for operations, Plastic Industries should have a responsibility to collect back at least a reasonable percentage of their annual production as "waste returned by consumers" and have a scientifically approved means of safe disposal. A customer should be able to realize a discount for returning the empty plastic pouches from his previous purchases; the stores in turn should get an incentive from the manufacturer who should collect these periodically. Municipal corporations can give tax relief for manufacturers who carry out plastic waste disposal by approved techniques. The local governing authorities should also conduct periodic campaigns through their conservancy staff for picking up littered plastics on roads and vacant plots; keeping the ball served on the public side all the time is not going to be helpful in this country at least in the present juncture. When the culture of segregating the wastes and submitting them to the municipality gets into our system hopefully in some future, we may find the plastic pollution problem solved at least to the same level as is present now in advanced countries. There is also an urgent need for supporting research and development on production of starch-based plastics, which is biodegradable. Starch is available in plenty and all our needs can be met. The dying jute bag industry can be given a fillip and development of inexpensive paper and cloth bags should be subsidized. Agencies should not mind incurring routinely some expenditure towards plastic pollution control rather than having to embark upon grandiose projects with World Bank Aid at a future date! Where certain types of plastics should not be used, let their production be banned by the government rather than trying to regulate at the consumer end. In the mean time let us keep in mind:
1) P for Plastics as well as Problems!
2) Plastic, Plastic Everywhere
Plastics will Rule, so people Beware.
(Acknowledgement: Issues of Down to Earth and Gobar Times published by Centre for Science & Environment, New Delhi; the author invites comments through email at: nambi@bom5.vsnl.net.in)