The Plastic Paradox

Most of the focus is on treating plastic waste as a management problem, but it is equally important to regulate the supply and consumption of raw materials in manufacturing

ATIN BISWAS and SIDDHARTH G SINGH (R) Programme Director and Programme Manager, Centre for Science and Environment

Plastic is a non-renewable product. It is simply another form of fossil fuel that is partially responsible for the climate crisis. Every aspect of the life cycle of plastic-extraction, purification, production, distribution, use, processing and disposal-fuels climate change.

For decades, plastic pollution has been misunderstood and underestimated to be a waste mismanagement issue, a marine litter problem, a problem that could be solved through technological intervention. The petroleum and petrochemical industry continue to argue that they are not a part of the problem and most of our national legislations have been drafted accordingly. As a result, all our efforts were directed towards the downstream end of the plastic life cycle. Governments mobilised funds to manage plastic waste while production kept increasing. We have produced more plastic in the last 10 years than in the last century.

India is one of the global leaders in introducing an array of policies for managing plastic waste. Starting from 2016, there have been as many as five amendments till January 2022, which could largely be categorised into (a) banning select single-use plastic, (b) imposing polluters pay principle on the plastic producer, importer and brand-owner, collectively known as the "PIBO" to manage plastic waste coming from packaging and (c) mandatory use of recycled plastic in manufacturing new products to reduce consumption of virgin materials. It is noteworthy that multi-layered plastics (MLP) were proposed to be banned under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. The 2018 amendment introduced new narratives like "energy recovery" and "alternate use". The amendment notified phase out of MLP that was non-recyclable and non-energy recoverable, making the phase out redundant.