Elimination of Single-Use Plastic

From the birth of humans, as a race, we have endeavoured to make our lives more comfortable by using either direct or transforming naturally available substances to create goods for human usage. Thus, the story of Plastics is no recent. It begins more than 100years ago when Alexander Parkes developed celluloid and was named Parkesine. Soon after, the first PVC (polyvinyl chloride) was prepared in the laboratory, which laid the foundation for exploring it for industrial needs. Fuelled by the second industrial revolution around and aided further by the upsurge of demands of its application in military gears, planes, packaging, construction, etc., an industrial mammoth was born. As it is today, the plastic industry spreads its wings far and wide to each sector of human existence. The current global plastic market size is upward of USD580 billion and has a CAGR of 3.4% [1] in the next decade. By an estimate, we have produced approx 9 billion tonnes of plastic since the 1950s, and guess what, only 9% [2] of the total production has been ever recycled. Our problem lies here!

Plastic is a lightweight, inert material that can be moulded in many different ways and utilized in the most mysterious ways. Unlike natural substances, plastics do not bio-degrade. At most, plastic undergoes photodegradation wherein it breaks down into small fragments, called microplastics. Thus, it becomes essential to ensure that every plastic unit is reused until its lifetime and recycled if possible. With advancements in science, a new type of plastic has emerged, one with a biogenic origin. This article concentrates on fossil fuel-derived plastics only. Diving further, single-use plastic - which finds its use in packaging applications such as grocery bags, food packaging, straws, containers, etc., - constitutes the most important industrial sector wherein the actual application ceases after its immediate use. To our surprise, though single-use plastic has the most significant quantum of production, about 36% [3] of the total global plastic production. More than half of total plastic waste generation is from single-use plastic. Thus, it is clear that the situation would be out of control soon if nothing is done about it. As quoted in Geyer, Jambeck, and Law, 2017: there would be around 12 billion [4] tonnes of plastic waste and litter in landfills and the natural environment by 2050 if the plastic wastage trends continue in the present order.

The preferred waste management hierarchy is (in the order of preference - least to highest)

However, in 2015, the total recycled plastics stood at 9% [5] followed by 12% [6] of incerination followed by 79% [7] of total accumulated, dumped or littered in the environment. The statistics in not only distressing but also alarming to the global community. We need to wake up to the manmade disaster in the making and set forth immediate residual actions. Plastic accumulated waste chokes waterways and exacerbates natural disasters. Its impact on the natural environment can be estimated by the fact that by 2050, an estimated 99% [8] of seabirds will have ingested plastics. The situation is profoundly dire in middle-income countries. As per Ritch, Brennan, and Macleod, 2009 report, they analyse how the economic growth in such countries has far outpaced the waste management infrastructure, resulting in dumping plastic in the natural environment.

We thus explore system design and incremental actions that can minimize the plastic menace that the world is experiencing today. We now discuss a Ten Point method led by Government, aided by Producer Responsibility, and fuelled by Consumer Education and Awareness, ultimately enabling market mechanisms.

1st (Identification): The story needs to start by identifying the most problematic single-use plastic. Different polymers encompass single-use plastic such as PET, PVC, PS, PP, HDPE, LD, LDPE. Each of these polymers has specific functionality, and industries use it in varying applications. Usage and generation mapping is therefore essential to understand the current value chain.

2nd (Design): With Public-Private Partnership agreements, one must stress designing products with fewer raw materials. It directly leads to the lowering of consumption of virgin fossil fuel resources for the manufacturing of plastic. At the same time, we need to ensure that we design products that last longer, are more durable and easily be recycled at the end of life.

3rd (Production): The producers need to seek raw material disintegration and bifurcation sourcing actively. They take back the discarded plastic and incorporate it once again into their system as a raw material. They should also be incentivised to carry out R&D for introducing and substituting existing polymers with biopolymers.

4th (Distribution): The point of distribution has to be marked and aided with alternate material. Also, these distribution points can act as collection points for taking back end-of-use plastic and handing it over to producers through the already established supply chain, which can be put back into the production cycle, thereby eliminating the landfill waste.

5th (Consumer): Consumer awareness programs should lead the way in ensuring that consumers get a deep understanding of their behavioral impact on our natural environment. Green buying choices should be encouraged through awareness programs and further incentivized in countries like India to ensure more judicious use of the resources. Additionally, at the elementary school level, awareness of students w.r.t. use of repaired and refurbished items should ensure a modular change in society.

6th (Repair / Reuse / Refurbish): Single-use plastics have minimal repair and refurbishment. However, setting up such centers can help ensure that the consumer is motivated to bring back the ‘wasted’ / ‘not used’ plastic. Such collection centers can feed the ‘wasted’ plastics back into the supply chain to extract their overall value.

7th (Recycle): Recycle continues to be the most advantageous and least explored method of handling single-use plastics. Because of improper dumping, the accumulated waste of plastic is just lying dumped in our natural environment. With the PPP model, there is an immediate need to root out improved, cost-efficient collection and treatment systems that can ensure that most of the material enters back into the supply chain and very few materials end up in the landfill. For this, we must enforce waste segregation at the source. As proved time and again, the adequate segregation of waste ensures that the subsequent steps of transportation, storage, and treatment work at better efficiency, thereby ensuring that waste segregation can revive the total recycling system to make excellent use of it.

8th (Government Regulations): Strict government regulations such as bans on the use of single-use plastic, especially in mountain or seashore settlements, have proved to be an effective way to reduce plastic pollution. It further promotes opportunities for MSMEs to prosper by making more sustainable products. However, the bans could also lead to total failure if there is a lack of enforcement or affordable alternatives.

9th (Stakeholder Awareness): Stakeholders of the plastic industry have very deep pockets. They cannot be disengaged overnight because the industry provided livelihood to millions of families that depend directly or indirectly upon it. Thus, here we can use Stakeholder Awareness as a common denominator. Raising awareness amongst stakeholders and consumers, in general, will help build confidence and strength commitment to the cause.

10th (Alternatives): We cannot imagine plastic to be gone overnight; however, one thing that can help us have a swift changeover is the availability of eco-friendly alternatives. We need to design products to replace plastic by using sustainable products which are fit for purpose, affordable, and accessible. If we cannot provide comparable alternatives, we do very little to incentivize the process for the changeover for consumers.

Thus, eliminating single-use plastic, which rouges the natural environment today, is a complex problem. There is perhaps no magic bullet to solve the plastic menace. The road to solutions will require government at the national and state level to tackle regulations and legislation to support this objective. It will have to be further aided by private investment in giving infrastructure support and technological guidance. We ultimately need ambitious targets led by innovation and thoughtful adoption of various measures by society to ensure we come out of this problem.

Sources:

[1],[3],[5],[6]: UNEP (2018). SINGLE-USE PLASTICS: A Roadmap for Sustainability (Rev. ed., pp. vi; 6)

[2],[7]: Global Waste Management Outlook UNEP, 2015

[4]: Adapted from Geyer, Jambeck, and Law, 2017; Jambeck ek al 2015

[8]: Ritch, Brennan and Macleod, 2009