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Content

• Microplastics
• Single Use Plastics
• Harmful Impact of Plastic Pollution
• Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016 (and 2021 amendments)
• Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2021 and other changes
• Other Steps being taken
• Promoting ALternate Use of Plastics

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Plastic is a lightweight, hygienic and resistant material which can be molded in wide range of applications and is cheaply manufactured. Because of these reasons, since the 1950s, the production of plastic has outpaced almost all other materials.

• Negative Impact on Humans: A study published by World Wildlife Foundation in 2019 estimates that an average human may be ingesting as much as 5 gram of plastic every week. This is because almost 1/3rd of the plastic waste that is getting generated ends up in nature, especially water, which is the largest source of plastic ingestion.
• Extent of Plastic Pollution:
  • Globally, plastic production stands at about 400 million tonnes, and could double by 2040.
  • Global Plastic Production by Industrial Sector, 2015
• How is plastic disposed off?
  • According to the UNEP, as of 2015, of the 9 billion tonnes of Plastic that the world has ever produced, only 9% has been recycled and 12% has been incinerated, the balance 79% has accumulated in landfills or in the natural environment. About 11 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into the ocean each year, and this figure is projected to double by 2030 and nearly triple by 2040.

• India produces around 10 million tonnes of plastic per year of which around 5 million tonnes is rendered waste every year. Therefore, its crucial that this waste is properly managed.

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A) GLOBAL PLASTIC OUTLOOK: POLICY SCENARIO TO 2060

• Recently released by OECD
• It is 2nd of the two reports, and provides a set of coherent projections on plastics to 2060, including plastic use and waste as well as the environmental impacts.
• Key Projections:
  • Tripling of the use of plastic and plastic waste by 2060
  • Largest increase will come from emerging economies in Africa and Asia
  • This is expected to double GHG emission, ozone depletion, acidification and human toxicity.

 1) MICROPLASTICS

• Plastic never truly biodegrade, but simply breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces. These tiny fragments are called micro (1 micro meter – 5 micro meter) and nano (less than 1 micro meter) plastics.
• The world sea floor is littered with an estimated 14 million tonnes of microplastics. They contribute to about 80% of the ocean debris. As per the UNEP, in the last four decades, the concentration of microplastics is supposed to have increased drastically in the sea surface water.
• Microplastics are divided into two categories:
  1. Primary Microplastics: They enter the environment directly as tiny particles. They may be tiny particles designed for industrial use or microfibers shed from clothing and other textiles like fishing nets. Example of microplastics include micro beads found in personal care products, plastic pellets used in industrial manufacturing, and plastic fibers used in synthetic textiles.
  2. Secondary Microplastics form from the breakdown of larger plastics such as water This happens when larger plastics undergo weathering through exposure to sea waves, UV rays of sun, wind abrasion etc.
• Impact of Microplastics
  • Introduction in food chain
  • They can also alter the functioning of important habitats, impact hatching, growth rates and food consumption of multiple different animals and cause mass death in coral species.
  • A study in March 2022, found micro-plastics in nearly 80% of the individual blood samples.
  • In June 2022, for the first time microplastics have been found in freshly fallen snow in Antarctica. Samples from 19 sites showed that all of them contained micro-plastics.
  • Nano plastics can cross over cellular membranes into the brain, where it can cause Behavioural and neurological problems.

 2)  SINGLE USE PLASTICS

• What is Single use plastic?
  • Single use plastics (SUP) are disposable plastics intended to be used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.
    • They include grocery bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups and cutlery.
    • These are the waste products of a throwaway culture that treats plastic as a disposable material rather than a valuable resource to be harnessed.
• Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules 2021 defined SUP as “a plastic commodity intended to be used once for the same purpose before being disposed of or recycled“.
  • The rules also provides for phasing out of single use plastics.
• Ban on several forms of Single Use Plastics from July 1, 2022:
  • As per the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, there is a complete ban on sachets using plastic material used for storing, packing, or selling Gutkha, tobacco and Pan Masala.
  • As per the PWM (Amended) Rules, 2021:
    • Carry bags made up of virgin or recycled materials and of less than 75 microns is banned wef 30th Sep 2021.
    • Import, stocking, manufacture, distribution, sale and use of the following identified SUP items, which have low utility and high littering potential is banned from 1st July 2022.
      • ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice- cream sticks, polystyrene [Thermocol] for decoration.
      • plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 microns, stirrers.
  • Why ban these items?
    • “difficulty of collection and therefore recycling”.

 3)  HARMFUL IMPACT OF PLASTIC POLLUTION

• Physical Pollution: Pieces of plastics, the polymers themselves, interact with bodies and
• Chemical Pollution: Added chemicals escape plastics and interact with bodies and ecosystems;
  • A number of chemicals used in the plastic are toxic and problematic. These chemicals, in lab settings, have been shown to be associated with infertility, recurrent miscarriages, feminization of male foetuses, early onset of puberty, cancer etc.
• Environmental Impacts: Plastics take upto thousands of year to decompose and thus contaminate soil and water.
• Plastisphere: Sometimes called the ‘Plastisphere’, bacteria, viruses and other life colonize the surface of plastic waste, creating distinct communities and population structure.
  • They may also contribute in growth of invasive species. For e.g., more than 80% of invasive species in the Mediterranean may have arrived on floating plastic waste.
• Health and Social Impact: Health losses, welfare losses -> unusable parks, Sewage Blocking -> Malaria, Dengue etc.
• Economic Impact
  • Visual pollution negatively impacts the tourism sector.
  • Further, future cost of removing these plastics from nature is higher than the cost of preventing the littering today.
• Exacerbate disasters like floods – an important cause of urban floods.
• Even the biodegradable plastics have many unintended consequences.
• Exacerbates Climate Change: Plastics are 80% carbon and more than 99% of plastics use crude oil, fossil gas or coal as feedstock. Manufacturing also involves burning of large quantities of fossil fuels to provide high energy demands of the industrial processes.
  • By 2015, the total estimated lifecycle emissions from plastics were 78 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e). For context, if the whole plastics lifecycle were a country, it would be fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world.

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 4)  PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT RULES 2016 (AND 2021 AMENDMENTS)

• Key Provisions of the 2016 Rules
  • Min thickness of plastic carry bags has been increased to 75 microns by 30th Sep 2021 and 120 microns by 31st Dec 2022 (after the 2021 amendment to the rules)
  • Expand the coverage to rural areas. The earlier regulations only covered urban municipal areas.
  • Phasing out of non-reusable Multi-layered Plastic.
  • Introduces Extended Producer Responsibility for producers and generators of Plastic Waste
    • Note: India first introduced EPR to manage electronic-waste in 2012.
      • EPR was extended to Plastic manufacturers after the notification PWMR,
  • Shopkeepers and Vendors can only use plastic carry bags which have been properly labelled and marked for use or else there will be imposition of fines.
  • ULB and Panchayats have been provided with the responsibility of establishing and operating waste management systems.
  • The Land Department (or any department with business allocation of land allotment with state governments) should allocate land for establishing waste management facilities.
  • Gainful usage of Plastic waste has also been promoted in road construction, waste to oil conversion etc

 5)  PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT RULES, 2021 AND OTHER CHANGES

• Key provisions of 2021 amendment rules:
  • The min thickness of plastic carry bags has been increased from 50 micros to 75 microns from 30th Sep 2021 and to 120 microns with effect from the 31st Dec 2022.
    • Note: Advantage of increased thickness – Higher cost -> more resuse; less mobile -> less pollution; less chances of being consumed by stray animals.
  • The manufacture, import stocking, distribution, sale and use of following single-use plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities shall be prohibited with effect from 1st July 2022.
    1. Ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene [Thermocol] for decoration;
    2. Plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 micron, stirrers.
  • Note: It doesn’t cover compostable plastic.
  • Note: The CPCB and the SPCBs have issued notification asking manufacturers, suppliers and consumers of single use plastic items to scrap and phase them out and switch to greener and sustainable alternatives.
  • Plastic Packaging Waste, which is not covered under the phase out of identified single use plastic items, shall be collected and managed in an environmentally sustainable way through the EPR of producer, importer and Brand Owner (PIBO), as per the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.
  • For effective implementation of EPR, the Guidelines for EPR being brought out have been given legal force through the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2021.

A) THE MOEF&CC HAS NOTIFIED THE GUIDELINES ON EPR FOR PLASTIC PACKAGING UNDER PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT RULES, 2016, IN THE GAZETTE OF INDIA ON 16TH FEB 2022.

• ­Key Highlights of the guidelines:
  • It promotes development of new alternatives to plastics and provide further next steps for moving towards sustainable plastic packaging by businesses.
• Obligated entities that fall under the category of EPR (Producer of Plastic Packaging; Importer of all imported packaging, Brand Owners including online platforms, Plastic Waste Processors) have to get registered in the centralized portal developed by CPCB.
• The amendment categorizes SUPs in 4 categories:
  1. Category 1: Rigid plastic packaging.
  2. Category 2: Flexible plastic packaging with single layer or multilayer (more than 1 layer of plastic), plastic sheets, covers made of plastic sheets, carry bags, plastic sachets, or pouches.
  3. Category 3: Multi-layered plastic packaging where at least one layer is non-plastic, such as tetra pack cartons etc.
  4. Category 4: Plastic Sheet or like used for packaging as well as carry bags made of Compostable Plastics
• The targets for minimum level of recycling (excluding end of life disposal) as per Guidelines, are given below:

Plastic Packaging Category	2024-25	2025-26	2026-27	2027-28 onwards
Category I	50	60	70	80
Category II	30	40	50	60
Category III	30	40	50	60
Category IV	50	60	70	80

• Environmental Compensation shall be levied based upon polluter pay principle, with respect to non- fulfilment of EPR targets by Producers, Importers & Brand Owners, for the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and preventing, controlling, and abating environmental pollution.
• Implementation of EPR will be done through a Customized Online Platform which would act as the Digital backbone of the system.
  • It will allow tracking and monitoring of EPR obligations and will reduce the compliance burden for companies through online registration and filing of annual returns.
• Producers, Importers and brand-owners shall have to provide the details of recycling certificates only from registered recyclers along with detailed quantity sent for end-of-life disposal, by June 30, 2022 of next financial year while filing annual return on online portal.
• Sale and Purchase of surplus EPR certificates are allowed -> this has thus set up market mechanisms for plastic waste management.
• Levy of environmental compensation based upon polluter pay principle, with respect to non-fulfilment of EPR targets by the producers, importers & brand owners. The funds collected shall be utilized for collection, recycling, and end of life disposal of uncollected plastic waste in an environmentally sound manner.
  • CPCB shall charge compensation on default producers, importers & brand-owners that operate in more than two states.
  • SPCB shall levy compensation on the default producers operating within their jurisdiction.
• Producers, importers, & brand owners, may operate schemes such as deposit refund system or buy back or any other model.
• CPCB shall constitute a committee under chairpersonship of Chairman, CPCB that shall be responsible for recommending measures to MoEF&CC for the effective implementation of EPR that shall included amendments to the EPR guidelines.

 6)  OTHER STEPS BEING TAKEN

• Strengthening of waste management infrastructure through the Swatch Bharat Mission.
• Promotion of Alternatives:
  • CPCB has already issued one-time certificate to around 200 manufacturers of compostable plastics.
  • India Plastic Challenge – Hackathon 2021 is launched to develop innovative alternatives to SUP.
    • It calls upon start ups/ entrepreneurs and students of HEIs to develop innovative solutions to mitigate plastic pollution and develop alternative to single use plastic.
• Strengthening of Institutional Framework at State/National level to better implement 2016 rules:
  • States/Uts have been asked to develop a comprehensive action plan for elimination of SUP.
  • States have been requested to form a Special Task Force for elimination of SUP and effective implementation of 2016 rules.
  • A National Level Task force has been constituted by the ministry to take coordinated efforts to ban SUP and to implement 2016 rules.
• Awareness Generation:
  • Mascot ‘Prakriti‘ has been launched to spread mass awareness about how adoption of small changes in our lifestyle can play a big role in environmental sustainability. It also teaches about various efforts and initiatives that the MoEF&CC and CPCB have taken in order to ensure effective Plastic Waste Management in the country (2022)
• Promoting Alternative uses of plastic waste:
  • For g. in 2021, MoRT&H issued guidelines for use of plastic waste in road construction.
    • Indian oil is also using technology to convert plastic waste into bitumen.
• Promoting Reduce, Reuse and Recycling:
  • World-Wide Fund for Nature – India (WWF India) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have joined hands to develop a platform to promote a circular system for plastics. The new platform is called, the ‘India Plastic Pact‘

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A) INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS

1. Steps towards Plastic Pollution Treaty: In 2022, the UN member states agreed to start negotiating new global treaty to end plastic pollution. Now its is crucial that the treaty that is finalized is ambitious and effective enough to truly address the plastic crisis.
   • As of July 2023, 2 negotiation meetings, for the new treaty has taken place.
2. Awareness and Education:
   • The theme of World Environment Day, 2018 was “Beat Plastic Pollution” and it focused on increasing awareness related to plastic pollution across the world.
3. EU Parliament bans 10 single use Plastics with effect form 3rd July 2021

B) GLOBAL PLASTIC TREATY NEGOTIATIONS:

• Why in news?
  • 2nd Session of Intergovernmental negotiation Committee (INC) on plastic pollution was held in Paris in June 2023.
• Background: In 2022, the UN member states agreed to start negotiating new global treaty to end plastic pollution. Now it is crucial that the treaty that is finalized is ambitious and effective enough to truly address the plastic crisis.
  • The Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution is in the process of developing “an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment”.
  • As of July 2023, 2 negotiation meetings, for the new treaty has taken place.
• Why is a global Treaty on Plastic Pollution required?
  1. Plastic Pollution is a global problem which requires global Most of the plastic is being dumped into oceans. This is eventually converting into micro-plastics, entering food chain and affecting everyone.
  2. Plastic pollution is harmful to wildlife and biodiversity which is impacting everyone.
  3. Increased International Cooperation will be feasible through a global treaty.
  4. The treaty may set global target for reduction
  5. A global treaty may make the fight against plastic pollution more fair -> by giving higher responsibility to developed economies and giving more time to under developed countries.

7) PROMOTING ALTERNATE USE OF PLASTICS

A) USE OF PLASTIC WASTE IN STEEL MANUFACTURING (DEC 2022: SOURCE: PIB)

• Waste Plastic can be used as replacement of coking coal (by upto 1%) in coke
• Waste plastic can also be added in marginal quantities in Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) as replacement of pet coke.
• As per Plastic Waste Management Rules (PWM-2016) and subsequent amendment vide gazette notification G.S.R. 522(E) dated 06th July 2022, issued by the MOEF&CC, only “End-of-Life Disposal” plastic is allowed for co-processing in the steel industry and other waste plastic which can be recycled has been mandated for recycling only.
  • Presently, availability of “End-of-Life Disposal” waste plastic is a major constraint.
• Under the aforesaid Plastic Waste Management Rules, the municipalities/ local bodies are responsible for the creation and establishment of the plastic waste segregation, collection, storage, transportation, processing, and disposal system either on their own or by engaging agencies or manufacturers.

B) ROADS MADE UP OF PLASTIC WASTE

• Why in news?
  • MoRT&H has issued guidelines for use of plastic waste in Road construction (July 2021)
• Details
  • Mandatory use of waste plastic in periodic renewal coat of pavement on National Highways and also in wearing course of service road within 50 km periphery of urban areas having population of 5 lakhs or more.
  • Indian Roads Congress (IRC) has formulated guidelines for the use of waste plastic in hot bituminous mixes for wearing courses.