Speakers: Mr Amit Jain, UNEP & Dr Kamal Sharma, CEO WeCare 

July 3, 2022, Sunday; 12 noon – 1pm

• Single use plastics (SUPs) are of great convenience in daily life. But they have a major effect on environment and human health.
• Open burning of plastic waste, indiscriminate dumping of single use plastics in water bodies and sewers, plastic contamination of seafood and microplastics are why single use plastics need to be phased out.
• There is lot of ongoing research on microplastics.
• It is estimated that there are more than 1.5 million trillion microplastics in the oceans.
• The government of India has banned the manufacture, sale and use of single use plastic products effective from 1^st July, 2022. The list of banned SUPs includes 19 priority products. The regulatory action had begun early this year, when advisories had been issued to SPCBs.
• This mission began in 1999 by banning thin polythene bags. There were further amendments and the first Plastic Waste Management Rules came in 2016 to increase the thickness of plastic bags to 50 microns. But we have been unable to eliminate even one SUP.
• Poor enforcement may be one reason, but the major reason is poor socioeconomic status.
• Collection of plastic waste is a huge problem.
• If there are no convenient and cost-effective alternatives and if enforcement is not strong, the plastic pollution problem will remain and go on increasing.
• Plastic is found everywhere. It started in 1950s when plastic was discovered. It is a universal packaging option across all sectors.
• Because of its widespread use over the years, we are now facing a problem of plastic pollution.
• This plastic is being transported from land through rivers to seas and oceans. Seas and rivers are a major part of food chain.
• About 80% of microplastics in the ocean come from the shipping industry.
• The source of microplastics has to be identified and act to control it.
• More than 10 rivers have been identified as carriers of plastic waste. The Ganges in India is one of them.
• Plastics are being recycled, but this is not adequate. There are different types of plastics; for some there is no business sense in recycling them, so they are dumped.
• Efforts are ongoing to identify hotspots of plastic leakage in the plastic value chain – from usage point to disposal point.
• More reforms are needed to so that a lifecycle approach can be adopted. To implement the lifecycle approach, market-based instruments were designed. Products need to be designed in a way that they generate revenue.
• There is a need to produce alternate products; at the same time, our habits too have to improve.
• All stakeholders – general public, producers as well as the informal sector needs to be involved in enforcing this ban.
• Microplastics are tiny plastic particles (less than 5 mm) that result from both commercial product development as well as the breakdown of larger plastics. 
• Microplastics cause water, air and soil pollution. Through the food chain, microplastics enter the body and affect different organs and harms human health.
• It is speculated that microparticles carry viruses and make their lifecycle longer.
• Though their concentration is not so much at present, the impact would be visible in the next three decades. This would require modification of regulations related to air/water/soil pollution.
• Microplastics are being studied, but now there is a need to make it a movement, so that all states can get their water bodies evaluated with regard to microplastics.
• The capacity and capability of research institutes should be increased so that they can identify the microplastics and analyze them.
• The policymakers too have to be aware about microplastics.
• The way out of this problem is to comply with regulations as much as possible. This will be a gradual process and will not happen overnight.
• The 3Rs (Reduce, Recycle and Recover) must be kept in mind. First reduce consumption and then move on to resource efficiency and find out alternate materials - their cost-effectiveness, circularity.
• Awareness will have a major impact so a mass movement should be started.
• There is a need to develop infrastructure to manage it in a responsible manner.
• One way of dealing with the problem can be to fix the responsibility or extended producer responsibility (EPR) i.e., they take back the plastic produced by them so that it is in safe hands for safe handling, treatment and disposal.
• Identify what can be controlled and what cannot be controlled. If responsibility cannot be fixed, then ban on such materials may be required.
• Use of other materials such as paper, glass, aluminum to replace plastic packing is not feasible as there are environment intensive. The cost of production of alternatives and their impact on the environment needs to be taken into consideration. Their compostability and biodegradability needs to be looked at. Rapid tests are not available to check compostability and biodegradability.
• Kulhad has been suggested as a replacement, but it is more carbon intensive and also requires top soil for manufacture.
• The industry is working towards sustainable packaging.
• Penalty for not complying with the ban should be imposed on the basis of the date of manufacture as the supply chain is long. This needs to be clarified from the regulators.
• A buffer time is needed for the markets.
• Instead of holding everybody accountable, the responsibility should be concentrated with the manufacturer, which is easy to identify and therefore also easy to control.
• Unless we stop manufacturing, this problem cannot be controlled.
• Currently, there is a gap between understanding, planning, mode of implementation and monitoring. These gaps need to be plugged.
• People have to be made aware that plastic is harmful. It is a derivative of phthalic acid, which is a potential carcinogen. 
• The medical fraternity needs to come forward to create awareness about the harmful effects of plastic, similar to the scale of awareness that has been created about Covid-19
• To have an effective ban, we need to learn from the past. For this, it has to be seen if the regulations are enforceable.
• SUPs have percolated down to people of lower income, so it is difficult to eliminate.
• Awareness, rational use and segregation are key.
• A behavioral change is required. We have to think and act differently. 
• Research and development are necessary.
• The alternatives should be convenient, cost-effective and not hazardous to the environment.

Participants

Mr Vivek Kumar

Dr Anil Kumar

Mr Paritosh Tyagi

Dr Dipankar Saha

Mr Amit Jain

Dr Kamal Sharma

Dr SK Gupta

Dr Sanjeev Agrawal

Mr Pradeep Khandelwal

Mr Neeraj Tyagi

Dr Tripta Gupta

Dr S Sharma