GS Paper 3
Syllabus: Environment Conservation
Source: DTE
Direction: The article highlights some of the effective ways to limit plastic pollution and India’s efforts in this direction.
Context: The first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-1) concluded in Uruguay.
Background:
- The INC-1 was convened and managed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
- The INC-1 came after a landmark resolution was endorsed at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), calling for the international legally binding instrument to promote sustainable production and consumption of plastics.
- According to the OECD, global plastic production was 460 million tonnes (Mt) in 2019 (234 Mt in 2000) and during the same period, plastic waste doubled to 353 Mt from 156 Mt.
Extracts from the outcome document titled “Summary of plastic pollution science”:
- Recognised the links between plastic, human health and environmental health.
- Endorsed the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)’s position that plastic pollution is rooted in the material’s life cycle – an offshoot of the linear take-make-dispose economy.
- Current trends need to be replaced by a circular economy (CE) – a model of production and consumption, which involves reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible.
4 strategic goals that can guide the transition to a circular economy:
- Reduce the size of the problem by eliminating and substituting plastic items.
- Ensure that plastic products are designed to be circular.
- Close the loop of plastics in the economy.
- Manage plastics that cannot be reused or recycled in an environmentally responsible manner.
Plastic Waste in India:
- The majority of plastic used in India today is for packaging and its production (the majority of which is single-use that may or may not be recyclable) is increasing each year.
- According to the Union Minister of Environment, over 34 lakh tonnes of plastic waste were generated in India in 2019-20, which has doubled in the last 5 years.
- As a result, the government has notified the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, which for the first time provided for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
- Under this, producers, importers and brand owners have been made responsible for collecting waste generated by their products.
- What more needs to be done to tackle plastic pollution in the country?
- Strengthening India’s plastic waste production, consumption and recycling inventory;
- Making brands disclose the number of plastics produced, collected, recycled and burnt each year;
- Integrating the informal sector into the formal value chain for plastic management;
- Designing product packaging with the ‘end-of-life’ stage in mind.
Insta Links:
Effects of plastics on the environment
Mains Links:
Q. We need to slow the flow of plastic at its source, but we also need to improve the way we manage our plastic waste. Examine.
