Reuse for now, but say no to plastics

The two-bin, one-bag scheme for segregation of garbage is widely enforced in Bengaluru, as is the use of compostable garbage bags.

This year, World Environment Day had a specific message for 2023: “Say no to plastics.” The United Nations (UN) mandates that nations and corporations reduce plastic pollution by
80 per cent by 2040, a task that seems impossible to achieve, for plastic is an invisible part of our daily lives.

There is plastic everywhere: Water bottles and water cans; plastic sachets; plastic wrapping and thermocol packaging; single-use plastic bags; plastic containers; synthetic microfibre clothing; plastic earbuds, toothpicks, toothbrushes, straws—even some face scrubs and toothpaste are said to contain plastic dots—and all the plastics that the world uses will take hundreds of years to decompose.

According to earth.org, the world produces about 242 million tonnes of plastic every year, of which a major percentage is disposed of in the ocean, accounting for 85 per cent of all litter in the sea. It’s quite common to see this plastic litter either washed ashore or ending up in the belly of marine animals, destroying the delicate balance in the ecosystem. And in India, it’s quite common to see hungry stray animals eat plastic waste from garbage bins.

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According to a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, a shift to a circular economy would increase savings to $1.27 trillion, a further $3.25 trillion from avoiding health issues from pollution, and a net increase of 700,000 jobs by 2040. UNEP estimates that the only way this can be done is to eliminate “problematic and unnecessary plastics” through reuse, recycling, reorientation, and diversification. It estimates that even if everything went according to plan, there would still be 100 million metric tonnes of plastic from single-use and short-lived products that would still have to be safely dealt with annually by 2040.

As much as these statistics are alarming, there is a lot of work happening on the ground. Through the Clean Seas platform launched in 2017, UNEP rallies individuals, civil society groups, industry, and governments to reduce marine litter and its negative impacts. About 63 countries—coastal and landlocked—have signed up to this global movement, pledging to reduce or eradicate single-use plastics through legislation and regulation.

In India, exactly a year ago, on July 1, 2022, a nationwide ban came into effect on the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of identified single-use plastic items. More than 20 states, including Karnataka, had already formulated some regulation or other banning plastic use even before this ban came into effect, and the nation-wide ban
gave the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) more power to restrict plastic use in the state.

The two-bin, one-bag scheme for the segregation of garbage is widely enforced in Bengaluru, as is the use of compostable garbage bags. Many stores in the city have cloth bags, and some vendors, like tender coconut sellers, even hand out paper straws to their customers. An informed citizenry has welcomed eco-alternatives, including cutlery and plates made from agricultural by-products.

India also showed the world how to convert plastic waste into a resource by using it to lay roads. In 2018, R Vasudevan, dean of Thiagarajar College of Engineering, was awarded the Padma Shri for his research in mixing plastic waste with bitumen for the construction of roads. As per media reports, India has built one lakh kilometres (km) of roads in 11 states using discarded plastic. These roads can be constructed in all weather conditions and do not develop cracks and potholes that are common after the rain.

The plastic acts as a binder and prevents water seepage, especially as urban roads see a lot of wear and tear with continuous traffic. According to media reports, Indian roads are re-laid every five years, but plastic roads can last up to 15 years, and they also reduce the usage of bitumen from 10 metric tonnes to nine metric tonnes for every km of road laid. In Bengaluru, the Outer Ring Road that connects the RMZ Ecospace in Bellandur, considered the first plastic road, was laid last year.

With these advances in curbing and reusing plastic waste, hopefully, there will be fewer potholed roads after each monsoon in the country as more roads turn into plastic roads.

(The writer is a journalist and author)