Plastic Free July is a global movement that inspires millions of people to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics. Plastic Free July has gained traction worldwide, including in India, offering encouragement to individuals, communities, and businesses to rethink their plastic use and adopt more sustainable practices.
Plastic waste generation in India has crossed 5 million tonnes, nearly triple the volume in last 5 years, with the primary sources being packaging, automotive, agriculture, and textiles. This is despite the low per capita plastic waste production, which stands at 8 kg per person per year. However, India is witnessing rapid urbanization and shifts in consumption patterns, resulting in greater plastic consumption.
India’s urban waste management system is struggling with the increasing volume of plastic waste, achieving a collection efficiency of only around 85–86 percent for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). 60 percent recycling rate for post-consumer plastic waste is primarily for select valuable plastics – PET and HDPE. For majority of Low Value Plastics (LVP), collection and recycling through Government funded schemes have been found inadequate to deal with the costs and complexities, and these end up in the landfill or are incinerated.
To set the context, LVP refers to any plastic flexible plastics consisting of one or more of the seven plastic material types where the costs of collecting and processing the waste exceed the revenue generated from selling the recovered plastic. This includes single-use plastics such as noodle packets, non-woven fabric/bags (Polypropylene), poly bags, thermocol, and composite packaging material made from layers of two or three different materials used for sachets, biscuit and chips wrappers and more.
Most of India’s recyclable plastic waste is consumed by households and MSMEs. The belief that expanding recycling and waste management capacity alone will solve the plastic crisis in the country is misguided. Without aggressive reduction at the source, our battle against plastic pollution will, at best, remain stagnant. Plastic Free July is a timely reminder to transition to sustainable consumption and refuse the single-use low value plastics in daily lives as far as possible. Households and MSMEs can:
(i) Ensure that segregation at the source enables the maximum value extraction from all recyclables
(ii) Consider purchasing products made from recyclable materials and packaging, and enhancing efficiencies to reduce waste in their daily operations.
(iii) Enhance working conditions when collaborating with informal sectors involved in sorting and collecting recyclable plastics
(iv) Engage in plastic circularity initiatives led by ULB, local communities and brands
(v) To achieve the vision of Plastics Circularity in India, responsible consumption, reimagined production and effective recycling need to be developed all at once. Collaboration is needed from all stakeholders, including national, state, and city governments, brands, MSMEs across the value chain, academia, and the informal sector.
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