The solution to reducing pollution lies in making it viable for rag-pickers to collect carry bags for a guaranteed amount
The Government hasn’t imposed a mandatory ban on single-use plastic throughout the country, a measure seen as too disruptive for the industry at a time when it is coping with an economic slowdown and job losses in most sectors. This has been seen by many as a step back from the stated position of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who seemed to have suggested a complete ban on its use by the public, from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15.
The Prime Minister’s views on single-use plastic have created enough awareness, regarding the avoidable menace, right at the street level where it starts to multiply with every free plastic bag punched with a few pieces of apples bought. It reaches a peak when God-fearing mortals push charity via plastic and thermocol plates full of food, to be eaten with plastic spoons and washed down with water from plastic bottles or cups.
The cheap shampoo sachets, the sinful habit of smoking and the resultant cigarette butts, the bubble wraps used in packaging and a fun stress buster for many, all leave a long-lasting harmful impact on the environment.
Is it fine then, to completely ban this toxic substance, which is a ticking bomb in our lives or, do we need a measured approach? The answer could lie in proper recycling, reuse and collection of used plastic.
Before we move further, here is an insight picked literally from the streets, on how laws ought to be made to ensure a plastic-free ecosystem. A chat between a senior functionary from the Ministry of Environment and Forests and some industry representatives was getting rhetorical, when, the official asked if anyone in the room knew why the Government had banned plastic under 50 microns to be used for carry bags and planned to make it the same for all packaging material. After a pause, he asked if anybody knew how plastic in India is recycled. The answer to both these questions is rag-pickers, the unseen army of eco-warriors, who go about scavenging near garbage dumps and urban dwellings, checking every nook and corner for any scrap that can be sold to recycling units. But collecting any plastic item, mostly carry bags, which are less than 50 microns in weight doesn’t make any economic sense to them. Hence the bags lie ignored, before being pushed by unwavering forces of nature to end up on Pacific Ocean floors or Himalayan tops.
This insight leads to a conclusion that recycling of plastic, if done diligently and pushed across all channels, would arrest the regimented crackdowns by beat inspectors on poor vegetable vendors doling out a few kilograms of grocery in a plastic bag.
The answer lies in understanding the very nature of the product, plastic, which is used as different variants by industries, commerce and traders and by a man buying fruits on the street. To ban its use completely often ends with the burden being borne by small traders and street vendors, who form a majority of our commercial ecosystem. The answer is recycling but it involves minute, yet important, behavioral changes.
If one goes by facts, today it is far cheaper to polymerise virgin plastic from crude oil than re-synthesising an old plastic carry bag. The cost of recollecting, sorting, cleaning and pushing it through supply chains adds up to the cost of recycled plastic. This prevents recycling plastic as a viable option against say, breaking an old ship, which is potentially more dangerous to the recycling ecosystem. The solution lies in incentivising recycling, making it a potential mini-industry.
After all, the Prime Minister himself had done a great photo op with a bunch of professional plastic recyclers recently as he tried to understand the issues they face. It is time some of his officers read the signals and start pushing smart tax incentives for this green planet initiative. A beginning could be made by factoring in the environment cost for every new plastic manufactured in the country and balancing it with tax sops on every piece of recycled plastic.
Second, often we hear bigger brands, rather than large users of plastic, coming under the spotlight for non-compliance of plastic waste collection for their products. While it does draw attention to the menace, it is easier said than sorted. Imagine the manufacturer of a mobile handset or television set, also having to deploy an army of recyclers who would go about collecting the packing material of the box, unless the plastic used in packaging is made heavier, which in turn pushes the cost up for the consumer.
The solution lies again at the doorstep, making it viable for rag-pickers to collect this plastic for a guaranteed amount. Clever solutions like these will win the bigger war on plastic in the long run.
(The writer is a policy analyst)
