PHASING OUT SINGLE USE PLASTICS BY INDIA

Single-use plastic is basically a plastic that is disposable, which has its usage limited to once and then it has to be thrown away or recycled. These are commonly known as disposable plastics that are either discarded or reused. As the name suggests, since its usage extends to only one time, thus, the cost of production is very low and easily affordable. This is the reason why almost all the items that we all use have something made of ‘single-use’ plastic. Further, it is also a fact that the products having these man-made and inorganic materials have become a significant part of our lifestyle. These items are things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food packaging, shopping bags, plastic food packaging, toothbrushes etc., generally we use these in our day to day lives. It not only ends up spoiling the environment but also, we end up littering our homes too. It can be concluded that use of these materials has become a severe addiction to human being.

Looking at the composition of plastics, they are made from oil, where heavy crude oil is separated into portions or fragments. Consequently, the entire procedure of producing, distributing and then discarding the plastic itself becomes a significant source of pollution. Most of the plastic that has been discarded is collected that either gets burnt or disposed of to some landfill. The ones that are astray, sooner or later, end up in the ocean. Plastic is also a petroleum-based product which takes an unnaturally long time to decompose which might be 10 years or even 100 years too. There may be various environmental factors which can cause the plastic to break down until it becomes microscopic or tiny particles. When the plastic breaks down, it in turn releases many of the toxic chemicals and as a result, the soil in the landfills, as well as the groundwater gets polluted. Once the land or the water get polluted, it somehow makes it to our body systems through food. Studies have shown that these chemicals are poisonous and deadly ones and can affect us leading to cancer, disrupting hormonal activities, affecting endocrine and immune systems etc. Most of the plastic littering the earth eventually finds its way to the ocean. Even though single-use plastic has a comparatively low production cost, the same is not true for its disposal. Collecting all the billions of pieces of discarded single-use plastic each year, separating, cleaning and then treating it, incurs a very high cost. Thus, with the above discussion, it is clear that it is completely reasonable to phase out the single-use plastics as it not pollutes the environment but also affects the health of animals and human beings. Our Government has therefore looked into this matter and has aimed to completely eliminate the use of these plastics by 2022. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has set the goal to make India free of single-use plastics, had appealed to the entire nation to stop the use of single-use plastic in his speech on India’s Independence Day, 2019.

The Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister had earlier asked Pepsi, Coca Cola and other packaged drinks manufacturers to come up with an alternative packaging solution. The Minister had organized a meeting especially with manufacturers of bottled water and various government departments in order to find a suitable substitute to single-use plastic bottles. The industry is targeting to produce packaging material that is recyclable as well as safe for the environment with the use of high viscosity polymers. 

This step is a remarkable step taken by the Indian Government but if analysed, there might be certain advantages and disadvantages as well. The advantages of Government prevailing and putting on bans on it is that

• Companies will transition to more sustainable choices.
• There might be more new inventions in the market as an alternative for single-use plastic
• It is a great initiative taken to protect, preserve and conserve the environment.

Similarly, the disadvantages to this ban are -

• The total cost of products may increase due to the alternative as plastic has always been very cheap. 
• Companies might try to manipulate the consumers and sell the plastics with a different name.