Innovating to Manage Plastic Waste

While Indore and Pune have developed their own models to work with ragpickers, cities like Goa and Indore have invested in material recovery facilities

HITESH VAIDYA Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs

In so many ways, plastic has more or less The first aspect of innovation needed is in the n so many ways, plastic has more or less become an integral part of our lives. When Alexander Parkes introduced plastic to the world in 1862, little did he imagine that with plastic waste would one day become a global problem.

The Swachh Bharat Mission, particularly the second edition, has been a watershed moment for plastic and solid waste management at large. It revolutionised the waste management narrative in the country, inspiring cities to make rapid strides in catalysing door-to-door collection, waste segregation, post-processing and reuse for various purposes. In a way, the Swachh Bharat Mission has also paved the path for the ban on single-use plastics announced in July 2022.

With the ban on single use plastic, along with the notification of the Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2020 and Plastic Waste Management (Amendments) Rules, 2022, the larger agenda for plastic waste management in the country has more or less been set.

The success in plastic waste management will depend upon how well a city or state is able to translate aspirations into practice. In other words, the implementation strategy that a city chooses will ultimately have a bearing on the end outcome. And it is here where innovative approaches are required.