Seminar on :

Pollution Due To Plastic Waste In India

Submitted By-
Saurangshu Sarkar
4th Sem-013

Dept. of Political Science

Vidyasagar University
Topics To Discuss:

❏ Introduction

❏ What is The Problem?

❏ India’s Current Scenario

❏ Why do we use so much Plastics?

❏ What are the adverse effects of Plastic Pollution?

❏ Preventive measures taken and what can We do to stop it?

❏ Conclusion
Introduction:

What is plastic?

● The word plastic is derived from the Greek word Plastikos meaning capable
of being shaped or molded.
● They are usually synthetic, mainly derived from petrochemicals.

The accumulation of plastic products in huge amounts in the Earth environment is

called plastic pollution. It adversely affects the wildlife habitat, and humans, which
has become a major concern. In 2008, our global plastic consumption worldwide
was estimated at 260 million tons.
Continued:
Plastic is versatile, lightweight, flexible, moisture-resistant, strong, and relatively
inexpensive, because of which it is excessively used by everyone. It has replaced
and displaced many other materials, such as wood, paper, stone, leather, metal,
glass and ceramic. Plastics have come to clutter almost every landscape. In the
modern world, plastics can be found in components ranging from stationery items
to spaceships. Therefore, the over-consumption of plastic goods, discarding,
littering, use and throw culture has resulted in plastic waste generation and thus
creating plastic pollution.Every day, thousands of tons of pollutants are discarded
into the air by natural events and human actions.Far more damaging are the
substances discharged into the atmosphere by human actions.Most plastics are
highly resistant to the natural processes of degradation.
Continued:
As a result, it takes a longer period of
time to degrade the plastic. It has
resulted in the enormous presence of
plastic pollution in the environment
and, at the same time, affected human
health adversely. It is estimated that
plastic waste constitutes approximately
10% of the total municipal waste
worldwide and that 80% of all plastic
found in the world’s oceans originates
from land-based sources.
What is the problem?

As the world’s population continues to grow, so does the amount of garbage that
people produce. On-the-go lifestyles require easily disposable products, such as
soda cans or bottles of water, but the accumulation of these products has led to
increasing amount of plastic pollution around the world.

Put simply, plastic pollution is when plastic has gathered in an area and has
began to negatively impact the natural environment and create problems for
plants, wildlife, marine life and even human population.
India’s Current Scenario:

India is generating about 3.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually and the per
capita plastic waste generation has almost doubled over the last five years.
Continued:

India stands among the few other countries like France, Mongolia and several
African countries that have initiated total or partial national-level bans on plastics
in their jurisdictions, according to the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) report of 2018.

On World Environment Day in 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to

phase out single-use plastics by 2022, which gave a much-needed impetus to
bring this change.
Continued:

Plastic usage in India:

India generates around 25,940 tons of plastic waste daily.

Continued:

Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad are

amongst the top generators, while Gangtok, Panjim, Daman, Dwarka and
Kavaratti are lowest on the index.
Continued:

In this context, thereafter, 10 states/UTs (Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat,

Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan
and Tamil Nadu) are currently sending their collected plastic waste to cement
plants for co-processing, 12 states/UTs (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal
Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu,
Telangana, Puducherry and West Bengal) are using plastic waste for polymer
bitumen road construction, and four states/UTs (Chandigarh, Delhi, Karnataka are
Madhya Pradesh) are using the plastic waste for waste-to-energy plants and oil
production.
Continued:

The massive generation of plastic waste in India is due to rapid urbanization, spread of retail
chains, plastic packaging from grocery to food and vegetable products, to cosmetics and
consumer items.
India’s plastic consumption at 11 kilogrammes is still only a tenth of the US and less than a
third of China’s, according to PlastIndia 2015. But, the projected high growth rates of GDP
and continuing rapid urbanisation suggest that India’s trajectory of plastic consumption and
plastic waste is likely to increase.
The plastic processing industry in 2018 estimated that polymer consumption from 2017 to
2022 is likely to grow at 10.4 per cent, nearly half of which is single-use plastic.
Why do we use so much plastics?

There are various reasons for abundant uses of plastics:

● Low-cost
● Flexible
● Light weight
● Moisture-resistant
● Ease of manufacture
● Versatile
What are the adverse effects of Plastic Pollution?
Continued:

Air Pollution: Burning of plastic in the

open air leads to environmental pollution
due to the release of poisonous
chemicals.

The polluted air when inhaled by humans

and animals affect their health seriously
and can cause respiratory problems.
Continued:

It Kills Animal: Despite of Countless Tv

ads and government campaigns, these
items are still used and discarded every
day. Whether because the mass of
plastic has displaced animals or the
related toxins have poisoned them,
plastic pollution does a lot of damage to
the ecosystem.
Continued:
Land pollution: When Plastics are
dumped in the landfills, the wind carries
and deposits plastic from one place to
another, increasing the land litter
covering distant places. The plastic
particles break down, they gain new
physical and chemical properties,
increasing the risk that they will have a
toxic effect on organisms. And the larger
the number of potentially affected species
and ecological functions, the more likely it
is that toxic effects will occur.
Continued:

Water Pollution: Chlorinated plastic can

release harmful chemicals into the
surrounding soil, which can then seep into
groundwater or other surrounding water
sources, and also the ecosystem. This can
cause a range of potentially harmful effects
on the species that drink the water. The most
visible impacts of plastic debris are the
ingestion, suffocation and entanglement
of hundreds of marine species. Marine
wildlife such as seabirds, whales, fish and
turtles mistake plastic waste for prey; most
then die of starvation as their stomachs
become filled with plastic.
Preventive measures taken and what can We do to stop it?
● Developing countries need to win over the ideological/political allegation by
developed states from the West over plastic use.
● From Waste/scrap materials to Recycled items. Companies like Reebok,
Adidas, Attero Recycling, Banyan Nation, Sahaas Zero Waste (Indian)
● States are importing plastic wastes.
● There should be complete understanding of Why we throw Plastics?
● Scalable Employment Generation in Rural parts of India.
● Installing more and more mobile recycling machines in public places.
● To make a habit of recycling in return of monetary value (bringing European
recycling culture to India ).
Conclusion

Plastic has become an integral part of our daily lives. We begin our day using
mugs and buckets made of plastic for bathing. Further, as we trace back our
activities throughout the day, we use plastic in the form of water bottles, combs,
food packaging, milk pouches, straws, disposable cutlery, carry bags, gift
wrappers, toys etc. The wide use of plastic has resulted in a large amount of
waste generated. Plastic has been so much used that plastic pollution has
become one of the environmental problems that the world is facing today. It has
impacted the environment, our health and wellbeing. We have all contributed to
this problem, and now it’s our responsibility to work towards it to reduce and
ultimately End Plastic Pollution.
Reference:
● https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/india-s-plastic-waste-situation-
wasn-t-created-today-67061
● https://www.intelligentliving.co/burning-plastic-waste-adding-to-air-pollution-in-
india/
● https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/plastic-planet-how-tiny-plastic-
particles-are-polluting-our-
soil#:~:text=Chlorinated%20plastic%20can%20release%20harmful,species%
20that%20drink%20the%20water.
● https://www.wwf.org.au/news/blogs/the-lifecycle-of-plastics
● https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/690-tonnes-added-daily-to-
plastic-waste-
mess/articleshow/90001711.cms#:~:text=The%20NGO%20analysed%20data
%20from,TPD%20and%20429.4%20TPD%2C%20respectively.