Plastic waste commands the highest rate in the recycled market.

Environmental Issues

The disposables which generate waste and cause environmental problems when their useful life ends, include mainly the following:

Plastic packaging/carrybags/bottles/containers/trash bags

Plastics from health and medicare

Plastics from hotels and catering industry

Plastics from air, rail and road travel

Polythene carrybags have environmental implications from cradle to grave. While carrybags made from virgin plastics are accepted as user-friendly, the problem arises when plastics are recycled for repeated use. The basic question is whether polythene bags should at all be manufactured using recycled materials, and if so what grade - first, second, third and so on. For consumer acceptance, recycled material of the first grade should be used. In respect of other cases when second grade material is used, they will find greater acceptance by blending virgin and recycled plastics in a 50 : 50 ratio. Carrybags manufactured using third and lower grade recycled materials are unacceptable and are the main environmental culprits. An interesting economic fact is that recycled polythene bags are generally priced between Rs. 45 and 50 per kg, while bags made out of virgin plastics command a price of around Rs. 80 per kg.

In respect of health and medicare items, though there is the possibility of organised picking around hospitals and garbage dumps, stringent environmental legislation for management of bio- medical wastes, including plastic waste, is in place.

Until recently no legislation was framed to deal specifically with issues connected with plastic waste management. The Government of Himachal Pradesh was one of the earliest to introduce legislation prohibiting the throwing or disposing of plastic articles in public places. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has recently notified the "Recycled Plastic Manufacture and Usage Rules, 1999''. These rules require that carrybags or containers used for purposes of storing shall be made of virgin plastic and be in natural shade or white. These items when made of recycled plastic, and used for purposes other than storing and packaging of foodstuffs shall use pigments and colourants as per Indian Standards. Recycling of plastics shall also be undertaken strictly in accordance with specifications prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards, and shall carry a mark that the product is manufactured out of recycled plastic. The thickness of carrybags shall not be less than 20 microns. Finally and most importantly, Rule 4 prohibits all vendors from using carrybags or containers made out of recycled plastics for storing, carrying, dispensing or packaging of foodstuffs. In other words all vendors are required to use carrybags and containers manufactured to specifications prescribed in the 1999 Rules.

In July 2001 a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Ranganath Mishra, former Chief Justice of India, to examine among others "various environmental issues relating to indiscriminate littering of plastic wastes with particular reference to disposal.'' The report of the committee is awaited.

The issue

The issue boils down to management of plastic waste, and more precisely carrybags and containers made out of recycled plastic waste material. It is said that any strategy for effective management of plastic wastes should have three R's - reduction, reuse, and recycle, and include a package of prevention, promotion, and mitigation measures.

The practice of a closed environmental loop is a fact in many developed countries. Packaging is found wherever products are sold, be they foodstuffs or consumer goods. Recycling capacities, catering for plastic packaging of sweet wrappers to 10-litre mayonnaise buckets, are available with suitable processes for each type of packaging requirement. The recycling follows sound ecological routes which meet all statutory provisions and, at the same time remain within reasonable financial limits.

In Agenda 21 of the U.N. Conference in Rio in 1992, recycling has been assigned a position as important as conservation of natural resources and saving energy. The more that is recycled, the longer will natural resources be available for future generations. Eco-efficiency is a continuous challenge involving search for new techniques which combine resource conservation, energy saving, and economic viability.

The way forward

Recycling of plastic waste is a major activity in India through which thousands of families earn a livelihood. Any decision to suddenly restrict this sector will have serious economic and social repercussions. At the same time the environmental issues involved need to be addressed. The challenge for environmental administrators lies in reconciling these two aspects.

It would be of interest to know that nearly two dozen pieces of environmental legislation with rigorous penalties for default, covering different aspects including management of hazardous wastes, have been in place for nearly two decades. Incidentally, plastic waste has not been classified as a hazardous substance. The legislation dealing with plastic waste is the latest entrant in the long list, and yet it appears to have caught the fancy of the regulators, and is receiving more attention than it deserves. It will also help if a holistic view of environmental management is taken in which the disposal of non-complying plastic carrybags and containers is seen in the context of scores of major industrial units discharging untreated toxic effluents which are known to foul up land and water sources thus posing a more serious threat to human health and life. A right perspective will then definitely emerge out of which appropriate decisions can be taken. Or else it will be a case of the tail wagging the proverbial environmental dog.

A blanket ban on the use of non-conforming plastic carrybags and containers will of course be in order and within the 1999 Rules. So will be any order closing down non-complying manufacturing units. It is nobody's case that non-compliance with law should be tolerated. But enlightened administration calls for perceptive handling of an issue involving the lives of thousands of small manufacturers and even more handicapped people down the line. The choice of closure as a strategy of first resort instead of the last option will only drive the affected into deprivation.

The answer lies in engaging in discussion all those who are involved - manufacturers, stakeholders, users and the like - and evolve a practical programme of mitigating the evil, either by assisting and enabling the manufacturers to upgrade their processes, or phase out while developing alternative sources of livelihood. The possibility of introducing bio-degradable technologies which are supposedly available in some parts of the country is worth pursuing. These initiatives require a commitment for proactive action totally different from a mindless implementation of rules. The stakes for our country in the plastic industry are very high. The attempt to clean up one segment should not result in throwing the "baby out of the window along with the bath water."

P. M. BELLIAPPA