In the past, the central government has definitely banned the use of single use plastic (SUP) across the country, but still no significant effect has been revealed. The statistics of the current situation are shocking. According to statistics, in the last five years, the consumption of plastic in the country has increased by 21 percent, while only 16 percent of this plastic is being recycled. The remaining five percent is polluting the environment in the form of waste. The civic agencies of the states have stepped up their efforts to fight it.
Country will take time to get rid of plastic
According to experts, it will take time to recover from this situation. This apprehension came to the fore in a group discussion on ‘Plastic Neutrality Through Circular Economy’ organized by IFAT India at a hotel in Delhi. The discussion included Sanchita Jindal, former scientific advisor to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr KS Jayachandran, Member Secretary, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation Commissioner Mahendra Singh Tanwar and Jammu Municipal Corporation Mayor Chander Mohan etc. Happened.
Single use plastic ban
The role of facilitator in this group discussion was taken over by Dr. Ashish Jain, Director, Pollution Control Organization of India (IPCA). Dr KS Jayachandran said that the government in Delhi is taking proactive steps to reduce plastic waste. 19 items falling under single use plastic have already been banned. There may be More restrictions imposed in the future. He said that with this change, 550 tonnes of single use plastic waste will be brought down per day.
Reduce-recycle-reuse will get a boost
Mahendra Singh Tanwar said that 1100 hundred tonnes of plastic waste is generated in Ghaziabad every day, out of which 10 percent of plastic waste goes into the waste. He said that plastic needs to be managed. Either kill the plastic monster or make him a friend. Use it for something else to finish, or recycle it and reuse it. Ashish Jain said that the government and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change are working to build a circular economy in India and are trying to promote the reduction, recycle, reuse of plastic and show the way out of the environment. .
Difficult to eliminate the use of plastic
Talking about the industry perspective, Tushar Ranjan Patnaik, Corporate Head, EHS, Dabur India said, “The last two years have been revolutionary in terms of waste management. SUP has been banned since last month, it is a good step towards sustainable development. We can decrease the use of plastic, but it is also true that we cannot reduce it to zero. So we have to make the packaging sector plastic waste neutral. This reflects our commitment as a responsible brand towards reducing carbon footprint. Our commitment to the environment far exceeds government regulations (25 -70 percent recyclability). We are crossing this limit with 100% plastic waste neutrality.