Single use plastics: How to address the challenge for Indian

companies

India being the fastest growing economies in the world is rapidly expanding its consumer
base. It is witnessing a continuous growth in its per capita income which is leading to a
related increase in the use of all kinds of materials including plastics. However, the
damaging outcome that has surfaced due to increased use of plastics is the non-
degradable waste that has the potential to destroy the living environment. Hence plastic
waste management is a mounting challenge not for one country but across the globe.
India has also acknowledged this challenge and has felt the urgent need to combat this
plastic pollution. The impact of plastic pollution has become so humungous that taking a
single step won’t make much difference; rathe it requires actions at multiple fronts. To
save our future generation from its aftermath it is imperative to steer out future away
from the dominant use of plastic. The business operation must take note of this situation
and alter their way of production and should take the responsibility of how their products
are ending up after being used. Simultaneously the people should also realize that
plastic has cluttered every single place on the planet both land and sea. So, we all need
to take a collective responsibility of reflect in our lifestyles and stop the sue of single
plastic which is not required.
It is indeed a matter of surprise that out of all the products that we use majority of them
are not critically important for us. In India most of the states are pondering on different
types of legislation to put a check on excessive use of plastics. In the wake of this
situation the India government has announced many policies to curb the plastic
pollution. Certain areas have been identified and declared as Plastic -free to protect and
maintain their originality. It has urged the society to go single-use plastic free and the
Environment Ministry has advised schools across the country to abandon all single-use
plastic materials.

Plastic has become an essential part of our life however the per capita plastic
consumption is surprisingly lower (about 11kg capita per annum) in contrast with the
average global consumption which is 28kg and it is even more in the developed
countries such as USA which records 139kg and European Union which records 65kg.
The plastic industry in India is at its highest growth rate due to its rapidly expanding
income group. Which is why there is likely to be an increase in the consumption of
plastics. To address this growing challenge government is all set to take steps at
different levels with strong public engagements.
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is one of those steps outlaid at one of the largest global
initiative on waste management. Plastic waste management is the pivotal point of the
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. To allow its effective implementation, the policy framework at
the national level has also been amended. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change has revised the Plastic Waste Management Rules which mandates the
source segregation of waste. The policies recommend maximum resource recovery
based on the principles of waste management hierarchy and circular economy. The
Plastic Waste Management Rules also include provisions for implementation of Extender
Producer Responsibility (EPR).

The Indian Government is progressing towards the path of sustainable development.

Hence at this point it is important to restore our traditional environment-friendly ethos.
Out of all the waste that we generate Plastic accounts for about tenth in which half the
plastic we use is single-use and disposable. The rising prosperity and, the use-and
throw practice of single-use plastic utilities and ‘out of sight and out mind’ attitude
towards their disposal is emerging as a matter of serious concern.

To support the government initiative many Top Indian companies like RIL, IOCL, GAIL
are coming up with combative plans to address this challenge together.
RIL is India’s largest producer of polymer, which is the main raw material for making
plastic products has taken a commendable step of PET bottle collection which directly
and indirectly provides employment to around 3 lakh economically weak people that
includes most rag pickers. This collection of used PET bottles is carried out through
around 150 collection centres across the country. It has tied up with various leading
apparel brands such as Myntra, Wrangler and Proline to associate themselves with the
apparels that are made from green fabrics. The same fibre is also used for filling pillows
and soft toys and to manufacture carpets and rugs. RIL is providing a good platform for
recycling, building a corpus and setting up a full-fledged sustainability team. Working
on the concept of circular economy in its plastic business, it has also put in place an
effluent treatment plant (ETP) to deal with the pollutants generated during the process of
washing. Besides this it is also planning to invest USD 8 billion over next four years in
petrochemical projects.

IOCL and GAIL are also top plastic producers having a production capacity of 1.25
MnTPA and 0.5MnTPA.
Addressing the multifaceted plastic challenge is a herculean task because there are
multiple factors challenging simultaneously that need to be measured while developing
action and strategy plans.

The vision to eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by 2022 has been announced
by the prime minister of India.

Although this pledge looks very ambitious yet of the global actions to combat plastic
pollution are already in place by 60 nations around the world. The prime Minister’s
intents to drastically stem the flow of plastic from the 1.3 billion people living in the
fastest growing economy in the world.

However, this challenge also presents businesses with great opportunities:

 Safeguarding supply chains

 Create a more circular business economy to cut costs and waste.
 Innovation around new products
 Developing new USPs
 Securing customer loyalty and brand recognition

Executing plastic strategy

The first step while implementing Plastic strategy will be creating a business which is
conscious about the plastic usage. After that comes the areas of implementation where
the company can start to make a visible change. This change should not be made to
impact the immediate business outcomes, but to the long-term benefit.

ValuEndow

We can help the Companies to identify specialist in the market, who with their ideas can
bring additional expertise and further insight to the table. We are well versed with the
technical complications and positioning strategies and can provide implementation with
design and materials expertise.

When it comes to packaging we can provide support with:

 Advice on Souring Materials

 Designing framework for recyclability
 Substitution of Raw material and impact assessments.
 Reviews on Alternative packaging
 Compliance measures

The effect of plastic is such that it has choked our oceans dumping ground, choking
marine life and even changing some marine areas into a plastic soup. The situation is
worse in the cities where plastic waste clogs drains, causing floods and breeding
disease. Plastic has also found its way in the food chain when it is consumed by the
livestock. Plastic packaging accounts for nearly half of all plastic waste across globe,
and much of it is thrown away within just a few minutes of its first use. Although most of
the plastic is of single-use, however it does not mean that it is easily disposable. Even
after discarding it in landfills or in the environment, it takes up to a thousand years to
decompose.