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Plastic
bags are highly toxic
Plastic bags landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade.
According to studies by the Plastic Development Council under the department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals,
India will emerge as the third biggest consumer of plastics in the world by this year end.
Every year, around 500 billion (500,000,000,000) plastic bags are used worldwide. So many that over
one million bags are being used every minute and they're damaging our environment. India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Yet,
precious little has been done to recycle, re-use and dispose of plastic waste. Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and
most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade. They break down into tiny toxic particles that
contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them. But the problems
surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before they photo degrade. Plastic
bags and plastic waste are also the biggest contributors of Environment Pollution in India
Our planet is becoming
increasingly contaminated by Plastic pollution
and by our unnecessary use of plastic carry bags. Big black bin liners, plastic
carrier bags carrying advertising logos, clear sandwich bags, vegetable bags and a variety of other forms used to carry our daily
food items and other items are all polluting our environment. Just take a look around you. Plastic bags can be seen hanging from the
branches of trees, flying in the air on windy days, settled amongst bushes and floating on rivers. They clog up gutters and drains
causing water and sewage to overflow and become the breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that cause diseases.
Animals,
including the Holy Cow and sea creatures are hurt and
killed every day by discarded plastic bags - a dead turtle with a plastic bag hanging from its mouth isn't a pleasant sight but
mistaking plastic bags for food is commonplace amongst marine animals. Plastic clogs their intestines and leads to slow
starvation. Others become entangled in plastic bags and drown.
Because plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down, every year our seas become 'home' to more and more bags that find their
way there through our sewers and waterways. Given India's poor garbage collection facilities, tons of plastic bags
litter the roads, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground. Hundreds of cows die in New Delhi alone every year when they choke
on plastic bags while trying to eat vegetable waste stuffed in the garbage.
Every bag that's washed down a drain during rainfall ends up in the sea every
bag that's flushed down a toilet (many mall bags are), ends up in the sea - every bag that’s blown into a river will most likely end
up in the sea. Besides choking drains, plastics are highly toxics. When burned they release cancer-causing gases. Lying in the garbage,
polythene bags also find their way in gut of cattle, asphyxiating the animals. The cheap
bags contain chemicals such as cadmium- or lead- based chemicals that are harmful to health. They leach into vegetables, meat and food. An estimated 15 lakh computers and 30 lakh mobile phones are disposed of every year in India.
“Computers, mobiles and other electronic items generate hazardous e-waste like lead, brominated flame retardants and
chromium which can cause cancer,” There is another problem: India has more to deal with than just the waste generated at home. The
Environment Protection Authority of Britain recently said 23,000
tonnes of e-waste was dumped in India, China and Pakistan.
The decomposition process of a non-biodegradable plastic bag takes up to
400 years and even then, they remain toxic after breaking down.
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Collecting
plastic bags from dumping ground, river side, ponds is a general scene.
Animals and sea creatures are hurt and
killed every day by discarded plastic bags
The Agra Municipal Corporation on September 28, 2010 launched a
massive drive to clean up the city's open drains of thousands of quintals of polythene bags, empty bottles and wrappers that had choked
the discharge of waste water into the Yamuna river.
More than 31 million tons of plastic is discarded alone in the
US each year that ends up in our oceans. Now environmentalist David de Rothschild is building a
six- person catamaran made entirely from more than 12,000 recycled plastic drinking
bottles to bring attention to this environmental threat.His goal is
to sail this plastic ship Plastiki on a 8,000-mile voyage. |
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Several
Indian states banned plastic use
The central government has recently passed the ruling under the provisions of the Environment Protection Act
1986, prohibiting sale of any product in plastic carry bags. Further regulated under the recycled
plastics manufacture and usage rules, 1999 (as amended in 2003) manufacture, sale and use of carry bags less than 20 micron in thickness
and less than 8 x 12 inches in size are prohibited.
Several Indian states such as Maharastra, Dehli, Punjab,
Rajasthan, Himanchal Pradesh, Goa , West Bengal etc. banned their use.
Mumbai's storm water drainage choking with accumulated plastics waste, making the floods unmanageable, is an old story. The
Environment Ministry has banned manufacture and use of plastics carry bags less than 8 inches X 12 inches in
size 20 micron in width. The ministry has also asked State Governments to register all plastics manufacturing unit, so that these can be regulated.
Plastic pollution in
River Ganga (गंगा)
Various States have increased the minimum thickness of plastic carry bags to even higher limits of 40, 50, or 70 microns. These States/ UTs are: Goa (40 micron), Himachal Pradesh ( 70 micron; HP Cabinet decided to ban plastics in the entire State with effect from
15.08.2009), Maharashtra (50 micron), Meghalaya ( 40 micron), Punjab (30 micron), Chandigarh (30 micron), West Bengal (40 micron ), Kerala (30 micron).
(a) The Government of Delhi issued a notification dated 21st November 2008 titled “ the Delhi Degradable Plastic Bag ( Manufacturing, Sale and
Usage )and Garbage (Control) (Amendment ) Act, 2008” Section 11(b0 of this notification stipulates that no person shall
manufacture, stock, distribute or sell plastic begs made of virgin of recycled, degradable or non –degradable plastic bags which are less than 40 microns in thickness. Another notification issued on 7th January
2009 under the powers delegated to Government of Delhi by the Central Government under Section -5 of the
Environment (Protection ) Act, 1986, which prohibits the use, sale and storage off all kinds of plastic bags in Five Star and Four Star Hotels, Hospitals with 100 more beds except the use of plastic bags as pres cribbed
under Bio-medical Waste (management and handling) Rules, seats, all fruits and vegetable outlets selling different consumer products including fruits and vegetables.
(b) West Bengal Pollution Control Board has banned manufacture, sale and use of plastic carry bags in ecologically fragile areas viz the entire Sunderban areas, Hilly areas of Darjeeling
distinct, Sub-division, CRZ areas (Digha, Sagar, Bakkhali etc.), Forest areas and in different heritage and tourist site.
(c) Action has been initiated for public awareness (trainings, workshops) for plastic waste management such as proper disposal of plastic bottles, banning of plastic carry bags, use of cloth/jute bags etc.
(d) Coloured Plastic carry bags have been banned in Himachal
Pradesh. Use of plastic carry begs have been banned in some districts in Mizoram /West Bengal
(e) Jammu and Kashmir has also banned polythene carry bags under Non Bio- Degradable Material (Management, Handling and Disposal) Act, 2007 with effect from 11.5.2009.
(f) Government of Himachal Pradesh has taken a cabinet decision for complete bad of plastics in Himachal Pradesh under the HP Non-Biodegradable Garbage Control Act, 1995 effective from 15th August 2009.
SC not to lift ban on use of plastic bags
The Supreme Court on January 29, 2010 refused to lift the ban on the use on plastic and
polythene bags. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan today declined the plea of the All
India Plastic Manufacturers Association for staying the operation of Delhi High Court judgement which had banned the use of polythene bags in the national capital. Earlier,
counsel for the petitioner submitted before the court that the use of polythene bags do not cause environmental pollution. Also the livelihood of the people
working in the plastic industry was at stake. The apex court was,
however, not impressed by the contention of the petitioner
Polythene Hatao, Paryavaran Bachao (remove polythene, save environment)
An innovative scheme launched by Himachal Pradesh
to remove polythene wastes by using these to surface roads may win the
state government a national award, an official said on January 13,
2011. A central team is currently touring the state to study the implementation of the drive and, if satisfied, may nominate the state
for the Prime Minister's Award for excellence in public service, said the official.
Himachal Pradesh imposed a ban on the production, storage, use, sale and
distribution of all types of polythene bags made of non-biodegradable
materials Oct 2, 2009. The government is also planning to include all plastic materials like
disposable plates, cups and glasses in the ambit of the ban. After imposing the ban, the government launched a campaign 'Polythene
Hatao, Paryavaran Bachao' (remove polythene, save environment) across
the state in three phases. Under the campaign, 311 tonnes of plastic waste was collected from 1,675 'hotspots'.
The state Public Works Department (PWD) has built 40 km of a road stretch on a pilot basis by using 40 tonnes of shredded plastic waste.
An Example of Strict plastic ban in Assam
Dibrugrah, March 06, 2008: Use of
non-degradable plastic as the carry bags has been banned from time to time by the Dibrugrah (Assam) district administration. But since
not much was done to ensure people did not use polythene, the “ban” would invariably die a natural death. This time, the Dibrugarh
Municipal Board has decided to take things into its hands and do everything it takes to banish polythene from the town.
As
a first step, the civic body will deploy 20 homeguards to keep an eye on shopkeepers and businessmen who have not been heeding the ban
on the use of polythene carry bags. And the penalty is not on the shopkeepers alone.If the neighbourhood grocer packs the month’s
stock into a polythene bag and the customer only “innocently” carries it home, chances are both the customer and the grocer will
be penalised.
“We have been forced to take such stringent steps, as it seems that a section of these unscrupulous businessmen
have taken the appeals issued by the municipal board as just a formality. We will impose heavy penalty on all those who are still
using polythene carry bags,” said Bitul Talukdar, the vice-chairman of the civic body.
Plastic, being non bio-degradable, is a major source of
environmental pollution. Besides, they clog the drains causing artificial floods during the monsoon season.
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Plastic ban in Delhi
The health department of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), in a bid to stop the usage of plastic, has been going
on a 'Say no to Plastic Bags' drive and seized a large chunk of such bags from
shopkeepers. The civic agency has also issued circulars to restaurants and other places, forbidding the use of plastic bags.
A Delhi city court took serious note of the environmental hazards posed by plastic bags and slapped footwear major Bata Shoe Stores with a fine of
Rs 1 lakh for using plastic bags on April 2010 In his order, Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Shailender Malik, directed the Delhi
Pollution Control Committee to utilise the penalty money to distribute
biodegradable bags among small shopkeepers to create awareness about eco-friendly steps. The court also directed the store manager Mahmud Hasan to be
present in court till its rising for the day.
The Supreme Court has admitted the petition of Plastic Bags Manufacturers Association challenging ban on the production,
distribution and use of polythene bags in Delhi on September 5, 2010.
The polythene bag manufacturers had challenged the Delhi High Court order, upholding the Delhi government order dated January 7, 2009.
Delhi Govt may shut plastic bag making units (news PTI on February 21, 2011
). With the existing ban on use of plastic bags not being very effective,
the Delhi government is now considering closing down over 400 manufacturing units of such items across the city.
"There are practical difficulties in enforcing the ban on use of plastic
bags. So we are considering closing down the manufacturing units of plastic bags so that these bags are not produced at all," an official said.
Currently, around 400 plastic bag manufacturing units are operating in
the city and the total yearly turnover of these units is be in the range
of Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore, an industry expert said.
Plastic carry bag to be banned in Rajasthan from Aug 1, 2010
Plastic carry bag would be banned in Rajasthan from August 1, 2010 next to protect the
environment, the government said today. After imposition of the ban on manufacturing, storage, export,
sell and transportation of plastic carry bags, the state government wants to declare the Rajasthan as "plastic carry bag free zone", an
official notification said. Collectors in 33 districts and the Rajasthan
State Pollution Control Board have been given powers to lodge cases of
violation under section 19 of Environment Protection Act, 1986. Guilty would be punished with up to a fine of Rs.one lakh and/or five years in
jail for breach of the ban. The state plastic manufacturers' had demanded the ban be restricted to only carry bag and not all plastic products.
Innovation in Recycling Technology
Centre for Environment Education (CEE) has been awarded
the ‘Plasticon 2005 Award' on 1st October 2005 in Mumbai by the PlastIndia Foundation in the category of ‘Innovation in
Recycling Technology' for its innovation of a ‘Polyloom' The polyloom is a plastic weaving handloom that helps reuse and
recycling of discarded plastic bags.
The concept of ‘polyloom' has been popularized by CEE's Waste
Management Initiative as part of its mandate to address the reuse and recycling of dry waste from domestic garbage. Under this
initiative, CEE has established an ‘Ecofriendly Reuse and Recycling Unit' (CEE-ERU) especially for recycling of paper scraps
and plastic carry bags. In this unit, paper scrap is recycled by the
hand-made paper making method while polybags are reused through the polybags weaving method.
The plastic weaving concept is based on the fact that plastic bags which are thin and flimsy (be it 20µ or less) have an average
life time of 2 to 3 hours after which they are discarded. They end up in gutters, dumpsites or on mountain sides and even in the
stomachs of animals; they are responsible for clogging, choking, flooding, asphyxiation, landslides, death and destruction. Instead,
if they are collected, even from roads, they can be washed, cleaned,
dried, cut into strips and woven into the basic plastic textile fabric, which can then be stitched into various products like mats,
folders, hand bags and purses. In this manner, both the plastic and paper waste becomes more manageable and less destructive.
The first CEE-ERU was first established in Coorg, Karnataka and subsequently, through various CEE offices, it has also been
established in Ahmedabad, Coimbatore , Delhi , Goa , Patna and Tirupathi. Today, the concept has been taken up by many women's
self-help groups who gather raw material either by door to door collection or by buying it from rag pickers. This provides them
livelihood while taking the plastic carry bags away from the environment.
Ban on use of plastics for packaging tobacco products
The Environment Ministry on February 7, 2011 issued a notification banning the use
of plastics for packaging gutka and other tobacco products after it was
pulled up by the Supreme Court for not implementing the law regulating
the use of the environmentally harmful polymers.
The Supreme Court of India in one of its directives also banned use of plastic sachet for pan masala from March 1
this year.(2011).
The Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 also bans the
packaging of foodstuffs in recycled plastics or compostable plastics.
On February 2, the Supreme Court had refused to grant more time to the
Centre for implementing the law to regulate the use of plastic for packaging tobacco products and asked it to notify that within two days.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, however, on February 7, 2011 said it is
impractical and undesirable to impose a blanket ban on the use of plastic all over the country.
The new notification replaces the earlier Recycled Plastics Manufacture
and Usage Rules, 1999 (amended in 2003). “These Rules have been brought out following detailed discussions and
consultations with a wide spectrum of stakeholders including civil society, industry bodies, relevant central government Ministries and
state governments,” the Ministry said. Under the new Rules, recycled carry bags shall conform to specific
Bureau of Indian Standards
“Plastic carry bags shall either be white or only with those pigments
and colourants which are in conformity with the bar prescribed by the
BIS. This shall apply expressly for pigments and colourants to be used
in plastic products which come in contact with foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals and drinking water.
The new rules say that plastic carry bags shall not be less than 40 microns in thickness.
Before, the minimum thickness was 20 microns. |
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Deaths of camels after consuming plastic bags
The deaths of camels in the UAE deserts after consuming plastic bags
have highlighted the levels of pollution caused by human beings in recent years.
An initiative taken by Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE Foreign Minister, has
again drawn everyone's attention to the conservation of desert ecosystems.
Shaikh Abdullah said through twitter that he would like to participate
in the desert clean-up campaign on January 20, 2012.
The authorities have been conducting an awareness campaign to prevent
pollution due to plastic bags and tourism related activities.
Concentrations of microplastics along shorelines
The waste water from washing machines is an important source of plastic pollution in oceans, according to a recent
article in Environmental Science and Technology published in October
2011..
Over the last decade, scientists have become increasingly alarmed about
a type of pollution that cannot be seen. Micrometer-size fragments of
plastics like acrylic, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide and polyester have contaminated the surface waters of the northeast Atlantic
as well as shoreline habitats in Britain, Singapore and India, the
researchers write.
The scientists said there was evidence that the microplastics are being
eaten by animals, who store them in their tissues and cells for months
with probably negative consequences for their health and that of the
humans who eat marine creatures.
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Plastic bag ban in other countries
Several countries have already banned their use and more will
doubtless follow.
Abu Dhabi.: February 24 to 26, 2011 has been declared a plastic bag-free weekend in Abu
Dhabi. With the nation overindulging in using 11.6 billion plastic bags
every year. The Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD), in partnership with the
Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW) and the full support of the emirate?s major supermarkets and shopping malls, is launching the
anti-plastic bag campaign to stress the serious harm caused by this item. According to the Centre for Waste Management - Abu Dhabi, plastic makes
up 19 per cent of domestic waste in Abu Dhabi city, said Dr. Jaber Al Jaberi, executive director of the EAD's Environment Operations Sector.
As a result of a government decision to phase out the use of plastic bags by 2013, major supermarkets in the country have already switched
from the harmful non-biodegradable plastic bags to the ones that degrade
naturally in two years. We are currently targeting school students across the country and have
distributed 10,000 jute bags to them so far, said Dr Mariam Al Shanasy, MEW undersecretary.
China: The final version of a regulation on the compulsory sale of plastic shopping bags at retail outlets was released in Beijing on
May 20, 2008. The Commerce Ministry, National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce
jointly released the regulation.
From June 1, retailers could be fined up to 10,000 yuan ($1,400) for providing free plastic bags to shoppers.
Under the new law, retailers will be free to set their own prices for the bags, as long as they are above the cost price. The plastic bags must also meet national quality standards.
Also, markets face fines of up to 20,000 yuan if they fail to buy bags from legally incorporated producers, wholesalers or importers, or if they
fail to obtain related certificates and record relevant data. It will not apply to plastic packaging for raw, prepackaged and cooked food.
Maxico: On August 2010 Mexico City has passed a law that bans stores from giving customers free plastic bags. The law will not be enforced
for another year to buy stores time to find biodegradable options, but
all businesses from bakeries to clothing stores will face potentially harsh penalties if they do not comply.
Minimize plastic bag pollution
The actions that can help to reduce some plastic pollution in our world are:
* Recycling plastic bags that you can recycle!
* Buy organic food, It will reduce the amount of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, artifical fertilizers, hormones, antibiotics
being used in the agricultural industries.
* Buy products with biodegradable packaging such as jute bag, cotton bag, paper bag
* Re-use your plastic shopping bags or better still don’t use plastic bags.
* Use public transport, walk or cycle… or car share.
* Use less harmful detergents in your home.
Roads are paved with plastic
A new use for waste plastic bags may be in the construction of
roads. .Ahmed Khan ran a plastic bag company in Bangalore and his brother decided to mix plastic with asphalt, which forms a
compound called polymerised bitumen. This polymerised bitumen, Khan says, is capable of withstanding India's prolific monsoon rains far
better than the pavements currently in use owing to plastic's tendency to act as a binding agent and being water resistant.
It's also cost effective. While a road built with plastic will cost
about three per cent more than a conventional road in the short term, in
the long run, it will require much less repair and hence repay the higher up-front cost.own. So far,
the company has laid more than 1,200 kilometres of roads using 3,500
tonnes of plastic waste, primarily in Bangalore. For every one kilometre of single-lane road, about two tonnes of plastic
are needed, he explains. Of the 35 tonnes of plastic waste generated by
Bangalore each day, Khan is already using three to five tonnes
daily on the roads. "Just think," he says, "how much of that waste plastic could be used if we had more of these roads."
Plastic ban in holy places
The Tribune reports that Tirumala's Sri Venkateswara temple, the richest Hindu in the world
with some 60,000 people visiting daily, will soon be a plastic-free zone, after the state government of Andhra Pradesh decided to ban the
use of plastic products there.
The plastic ban at the 1700-year old hill-top temple goes into effect in
one month and will cover all plastic bags irrespective of size or thickness. In applications where plastic bags are currently
used--distributing prasad after services, for example--cloth, paper or jute
bags will be used instead. The temple canteens at Sri Venkateswara and
others managed by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams had already stopped using plastic cups for serving tea and water, replacing them with paper cups or reusable glasses.
The move accompanies one by the state government banning plastic bags
below 40 microns thickness across the state, in the same time frame. Currently plastic bags below 20 microns are banned.
Invention turns plastic bags back into
oil
Akinori Ito a Japanese inventor
has invented a device that will turn ordinary plastic shopping bags into gasoline, reports the website Clean
Technica. Ito's device came from a simple idea: Plastic bags are made out of oil,
so there should be a way to change them back and recapture the energy inside them.
The device melts plastic bags, filters and cools the vapors, then
condenses them back into crude oil, which can be used as fuel. An additional step turns the crude oil into gasoline, providing an even
more versatile energy source.
Clean Technica reports that Ito's invention uses remarkably little
energy to complete this process. Two pounds of plastic bags can be converted into a quart of oil using a single kilowatt of power.
According to the Environmental Literacy Council, between 500 billion and
1 trillion plastic bags are used every year. That's a lot of oil that
could be reclaimed if devices like this caught on.
Ito envisions the device being used in homes, and in fact, you can buy
it from his own Blest Co. Ltd., but the $10,000 price tag might give you
pause. But don't worry: Clean Technica reports that Ito hopes to bring
prices down if he can increase production and lower his manufacturing costs.
Machine
turns plastic bags back into oil: Video |
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Toxic plastic
into your homes
Plastic salvaged from electronic waste is posing serious health and environmental hazards.
The toxic plastic is being recycled and toys and other household items made out of it, which is
hazardous not only for those involved in the recycling work but also for the end users. .
Delhi-based NGO Toxics Link, in its study, has found the presence of
brominated flame retardants (BFR) in recycled plastic in Delhi.
BFRs are used in electronic items to make them fire resistant, but the
chemicals are extremely harmful for humans. The chemical leaks from
plastic products very slowly; but when recycling, it becomes hazardous, especially in India where waste recycling is
mostly done in the unorganized sector without any proper safety measures in place.
"Delhi is probably the biggest recycler of e-waste in the country with
about 7,000 plastic processing units. Several thousands of people are employed in these units and are constantly exposed to
BFRs.
The recyclable plastic bags are not so encouraging
Polyethylenes, used in one type of “recyclable” plastic bags, do not
really disintegrate back into nature. The polyethylenes in the plastic
bags studied are made by adding metals like iron and cobalt to the mix
of ethylene polymers, to speed up their oxidation. But while such hybrid
plastic bags once discarded do, indeed, break into fragments relatively
quickly, those shreds seem to persist for a long time. No one knows just
how long — the number of long-term studies is zero.
No plastic bags on Ganga ghat
To discourage the use of plastic carrybags and promote environment friendly approach, volunteers of Samkalp, a social
organisation, distributed recently cotton bags at Dashashwamedh Ghat and adjoining areas. The volunteers also took plastic bags from people
visiting the ghats and offered them cotton bags for daily use. The distribution of cotton bags was a part of the 'Save Ganga Campaign' of
the organisation. |
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