By George Cheriyan and Simi T B
Bengaluru: The World Consumer Rights Day is observed on March 15 in most countries, since 1983. The day has been chosen since it was on this day in 1962 the then US President John F Kennedy addressed the US Congress defining and highlighting consumer rights.
The international consumer movement now marks March 15 every year to raise global awareness about consumer rights, coordinated at the global level by Consumers International. Continuing with the focus on Sustainable Consumer, this year the theme is ‘Tackling Plastic Pollution.’
Global contest
The world produces more than 400 million tons of plastic every year. An estimated 25 percent of plastic waste is incinerated and 56 percent is disposed of in landfills. A recent study in the journal “Environmental Science and Technology” says it’s possible that humans may be consuming anywhere from 39,000 to 52,000 micro-plastic particles a year. Evidence of particles was found in beer, salt, seafood, sugar, alcohol, and honey, as well as some species of fish like shellfish.
Plastics, as claimed by the company which first introduced it in the market back in 1922, is certainly a material of numerous uses. Only its over dependence and reckless disposal became a cause of concern past few years.
About 127 countries have some form of legislation or rules to curtail use of plastic bags and single-use plastics products more generally. A few recent forms of regulations include bans on the use of specific products such as plastic cutleries, straws, packaging materials such as polystyrene etc.
Other than these, few conscious countries have introduced taxes or waste-disposal fees on single-use plastics, introduced extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements, recycling targets, packaging requirements and even bans on plastic waste imports.
Pandemic and the Plastic
As the pandemic continues to tighten its grip over the world, one could witness a major shift in consumer lifestyles, social norms, behavior and interactions across the globe, and India is no exception. The country is witnessing a tremendous increase in the use of plastics like never before in healthcare and other sectors like e-commerce. Various reports claim that plastic packaging waste is projected to increase by as much as 300 percent because of lockdown measures and the increase of our consumption of single-use plastics.
Even the campaigns educating people to wear mask to contain the spread of Covid-19 has now started to backfire as it led to an unexpected rise in the production and sales of disposable masks that often contain the plastic polypropylene which cannot be recycled through conventional recycling facilities.
Indian Scenario
According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) it is estimated that India generates approximately 9.4 million tons per annum plastic waste, (which amounts to 26,000 tons of waste per day), out of which approximately 5.6 million tons per annum plastic waste is recycled (i.e., 15,600 tons of waste per day) and 3.8 million tons per annum plastic waste is left uncollected or littered (9,400 tons of waste per day).
Also, what is more alarming is some states like Bihar and Haryana that generates more than 65,000 tonnes per annum of plastic wastes doesn’t even have a registered/unregistered Plastic Recycling Unit, as per annual report 2018-2019 of CPCB. While the environmental benefits of recycling plastics are well established and most other states has some plastic recycling units both registered and informal, recycling rates are often low with plastics ending up in landfills. Low recycling rates are often due to the challenges of collection, segregation and transportation.
India’s cautious approach to its own recent proposal to impose a blanket ban on single-use plastic, for fear of any further negative impact on economy that is already reeling due to pandemic is understandable. But experiences shows that a ban on single-use plastics wouldn’t create negative impact on jobs, but the economy would only do much better if it simultaneously put in more efforts to strengthen its recycling programs. This is where the findings of a recent UN report become relevant, that almost one ton of plastic recycling is expected to save about 1.7 km2 of landfill area. Further, it can also create 1.39 million incremental jobs in plastic recycling industry.
The plastics certainly play a vital role in circular economy, but to improve the circularity of plastics, it is essential to ensure that maximum plastic waste is recovered and it does not end up in landfill or in the environment. This is where the role of companies that are major contributors to plastic wastes should come into picture. They should take up the responsibility of collecting waste plastics from consumers and recycle it or up-recycle it to different use as per the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mentioned in the Plastic Waste Rules 2016 amended in 2018. But for that there is a need for mass awareness generation of segregation of wastes, facilitation of better coordination and communication across the plastics value chain and most importantly the need to act tough but professionally by the local bodies, by the Pollution Control Boards and other related departments.
In the meantime, as an enlightened consumer we can follow the principals of circularity refuse, reduce and reuse and choose to buy products without packaging, carry our own metal food containers and water bottle, refuse plastic cutleries and straws, encourage our children to play with plastic free toys and use our own cloth bags for shopping. Even simple acts like these can significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste we as a consumer are responsible for.
(George Cheriyan is Director and Simi T.B. is Policy Analyst, both works with CUTS International, a global public policy research and consumer advocacy organisation.)