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Plastic is a life-changing resource, but the same qualities that make it useful, have created a global waste challenge. Here’s all you need to know about it-
While plastic is durable, this also means plastic waste can be trapped in our environment for centuries, if not managed well. While plastics deteriorate into fragments easily through wear and tear, their polymer chains only break down into other smaller components at very high temperatures, such as during some chemical recycling processes.
Year on year, millions of tonnes of plastic, worth billions of dollars, ends up in landfills, is burned, or leaks into the environment. A staggering 8 million tonnes of plastic, leaks into the ocean every year — and that number is rising. If we don’t rethink its use, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish (by weight) by 2050.
We are living in an era where greenhouse gas levels are at an all-time high. A plastic crisis is a climate crisis hiding in plain sight. Researchers have revealed that the global carbon footprint of plastics has doubled since 1995, reaching 2.2 billion MT of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2015. This would be equivalent to carbon dioxide emitted by more than 434 million cars in a year. This represents 4.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. “By 2050, the cumulative greenhouse gas emissions from plastic could reach over 56 gigatons – 10-13 percent of the entire remaining carbon budget”, wrote the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL), in their “Plastic and Climate” report of 2019. These 2050 emissions’ predictions are big because plastic production is expected to almost quadruple by then, according to the World Economic Forum.
A very small amount of discarded plastic is recycled or incinerated in waste-to- energy facilities. A lot of it ends up in landfills where it may take up to 1,000 years to decompose. When waste breaks down in the landfill and water filters through that waste, it forms a liquid called Leachate. This liquid is highly toxic and can pollute the land, groundwater, and waterways. Decomposing materials in landfills leach harmful chemicals such as chlorides and heavy metals into the soil, which can then get picked up by rainwater and pollute drinking water. The toxic chemicals released through the landfills also destroy the soil’s upper layer, distort soil fertility, and affect the plants’ lives. This upsets the land’s ecosystem and can result in health complications if the soil is used for agricultural purposes. In some cases, the creation of landfill sites also requires wild areas to be cleared, leading to habitat loss and degradation. **Unmanaged landfills also pose the risk of severe health issues with low birth rates and weights, congenital disabilities, and increased cancer cases, especially for those residing near these landfills. In fact, over 50% of people living close to landfills suffer from lung and heart diseases at one point or the other. The social and economic cost of managing a landfill can be very high. From managing groundwater contamination to minimizing the number of harmful gases emitted, requires lots of finances to avoid future complications. These high capital investments drain the municipality funds and might encourage some communities to leave landfills unmanaged.
We all know that crude oil is available in limited amount. Plastic production accounted for about 4 percent of global oil production in 2012. The Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries reported that there are 1.5 trillion barrels of crude oil reserves left in the world. Around the world, over 34 billion barrels of oil are used every year. Oil demand has grown non-stop more or less since the industrial revolution and is expected to continue to grow until at least 2030. Global oil demand rose by 5.5 million barrels per day in 2021 and by 3.3 million barrels per day in 2022, according to IEA. This indicates that it is only a few decades until we will be left with no crude oil for our use.
Plastic import shipments in India are 6.8 Million Tonne. India is largest importer for Plastic in the world. Apart from this 4% of total crude oil import goes into production of virgin plastic manufacturing. These imports deplete the forex reserves of country. One metric tonne of virgin plastic production costs USD 900 of forex. With increasing pace of plastic consumption, it will cast a toll on overall forex position of the country.
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