Context: Single use plastic is a major cause of concern for the world today. India has taken several initiatives to tackle the problem caused hy single use plastic and management of plastic waste.

Challenges

• In India, with rising e-commerce purchases, the use of plastic has significantly increased. These companies need to cut back on plastic packaging that makes up nearly 40% of India's annual plastic consumption.
• According to Un-Plastic Collective Report, an estimated 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced since the early 1950s, about 60% of which has ended up either in a landfill or the natural environment.
• India alone generates 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, around 43% of which comprises single-use plastic. It poses a mammoth  problem for India since 40% of plastic waste remains uncollected.

About Single-use Plastics

• Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.
• These items are things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food packaging.
• The single-use plastic products also prevent the spread of infection. Instruments such as syringes, applicators, drug tests, bandages and wraps are often made to be disposable.
• Also, single-use plastic products have been enlisted in the fight against food waste, keeping food and water fresher for longer and reducing the potential for contamination.
• However, there can be challenges when it comes to disposing of some single-use products.
• Petroleum-based plastic is not biodegradable and usually goes into a landfill where it is buried or it gets into the water and finds its way into the ocean.
• In the process of breaking down, it releases toxic chemicals (additives that were used to shape and harden the plastic) which make their way into our food and water supply.
• The ultimate goal is that all these products can be collected and converted into energy or recycled.

Use & Reuse

• A key step in that direction was Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, which were amended last year. As part of EPR, producers, importers and brand owners — like fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and pharma companies — are supposed to take back the plastic waste generated by their products, with the help of waste-management companies
• Companies are trying to shift to single-polymer packaging, which would make it recyclable.
• The Challenge: While India is one of 63 countries with EPR, its guidelines for the same continue to be vague. There isn’t much clarity on how much of single-use plastic a company puts out needs to be taken back by it.
• There is no mechanism to implement EPR. Even if the government chooses to ban certain plastics, there is a big question mark on how effective it will be. Plastic is cheap and convenient, and as long as there is demand for it, people are going to manufacture it.
• Unlike urban local bodies, gram panchayats may not have the resources to do routine checks on plastic use. Maharashtra is among the 23 states that have fully or partially banned plastic bags, but that has not stopped people from using them.
• The cigarette butt is the most commonly found litter on beaches and in rivers and lakes. A global coastal clean-up drive in 2018 found 5.7 million of them.

Plastic waste management

• The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 notified by the Centre called for a ban on “non-recyclable and multi-layered” packaging by March 2018, and a ban on carry bags of thickness less than 50 microns (which is about the thickness of a strand of human hair). The Rules were amended in 2018, with changes that activists say favoured the plastic industry and allowed manufacturers an escape route. The 2016 Rules did not mention SUPs.

Single-use plastic alternatives

• There is no viable alternative as of now for single-use plastic items.  The alternative to single-use plastic items, especially single-use plastic bottles, which are used to sell packaged drinking water, needs to be affordable for the consumers. A drinking water bottle, which costs Rs 20 currently, cannot be priced higher than that. Further, customers have shown confidence in the sealed water bottles over the years and hence, the alternative should also be up to the mark. 
• Since recycling of plastic is not a permanent solution, manufacturers of single-use plastic have been asked to look for other alternatives that are biodegradable. Railway ministry, which manufactures and sells packaged drinking water ‘Rail Neer’ is also looking for alternatives including polymers to make their packaging biodegradable.  

Are alternatives such as compostable or biodegradable plastics viable?

• Although compostable, biodegradable or even edible plastics made from various materials such as bagasse (the residue after extracting juice from sugarcane), corn starch, and grain flour are promoted as alternatives, these currently have limitations of scale and cost.
• Some biodegradable packaging materials require specific microorganisms to be broken down, while compostable cups and plates made of polylactic acid, a popular resource derived from biomass such as corn starch, require industrial composters. On the other hand, articles made through a different process involving potato and corn starch have done better in normal conditions, going by the experience in Britain. Seaweed is also emerging as a choice to make edible containers.
• In India, though, in the absence of robust testing and certification to verify claims made by producers, spurious biodegradable and compostable plastics are entering the marketplace. In January this year, the CPCB said that 12 companies were marketing carry bags and products marked ‘compostable’ without any certification, and asked the respective State Pollution Control Boards to take action on these units.
• A ban on single-use plastic items would have to therefore lay down a comprehensive mechanism to certify the materials marketed as alternatives, and the specific process required to biodegrade or compost them. 
• A movement against plastic waste would have to prioritise the reduction of single-use plastic such as multi-layer packaging, bread bags, food wrap, and protective packaging. Consumers often have no choice in the matter. Other parts of the campaign must focus on tested biodegradable and compostable alternatives for plates, cutlery and cups, rigorous segregation of waste and scaled up recycling. City municipal authorities play a key role here.

Steps to convert Plastic into valuable

• Pyrolysis is a common technique used to convert plastic waste into energy, in the form of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels. Pyrolysis is the thermal degradation of plastic waste at different temperatures (300–900°C), in the absence of oxygen, to produced liquid oil.
• National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will ensure that the plastic waste is collected and transported responsibly along National Highways.The collected plastic waste will be used for road construction.
• Roads constructed using water plastic are durable against extreme weather conditions and are also cost-effective.
• The Department of Industrial Promotion (Ministry of Commerce & Industry) will ensure that all cement factories use plastic as fuel.
• The Ministry of Railways will organize massive shramdaans (voluntary work) on October 2 for the collection of plastic waste at railway stations and along the rail tracks.It will also run advertising radio spots on all trains.
• Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry has decided to put-forth a blanket ban on all types of single-use plastic that is used in the ministry &the PSUs including Food Corporation of India (FCI).
• Ministry of Tourism is set to ensure & create awareness on single-use plastic at iconic tourist spots.
• Ministry of Textiles has pushed for greater production of jute bags to replace plastic bags.

Global Initiatives

• Concerns are growing worldwide about increasing plastic pollution, with a particular focus on the oceans, where nearly 50% of single-use plastic products end up killing marine life and entering the human food chain.
• In this regard, the European Union has planned to ban single-use plastic items such as straws, forks, knives and cotton buds by 2021.
• China's commercial hub of Shanghai is gradually restraining the use of single-use plastics in catering services. Its island province of Hainan has vowed to completely eliminate single-use plastic by 2025.

Road Ahead

• The holistic perspective in dealing with single-use plastics and the over all problem of Plastics specifically the plastic waste disposal. A lot needs to be done in terms of innovation and making people aware as well and Let's all follow the principle of 3R when it comes to plastic i.e. Reduce-Refuse and Reuse/Recycle.