Can The Plastic Ban Lead To An Environmental Imbalance?

 

Yes! If this city expert is to be believed, the recent ban on plastic and plastic products can seriously affect the balance of our eco-system! 

India alone generates approximately 5 million tonnes of plastic waste per annum. The world is believed to use a million plastic bags per minute, translating to an average of 500 billion plastic bags. Interestingly, only a minuscule 5% is recovered to be recycled. 

However, the recent ban on plastic has grabbed everyone’s attention and from what this Pune expert has to say, “it has apparently become more a fashion statement, rather than being a science driven decision. Such bans have been made based on the usage, rather than at the manufacturing level in several countries and states.”

Speaking to Pune 365, Dr. S.Radhakrishnan (Vice President- Indian Plastic Institute), Director, Research Development & Innovation of MIT Pune believes that banning plastic is in reality, more damaging for the environment.

The alternative materials to replace plastics will lead to total imbalance of environment, agriculture and forest area, opines, Radhakrishnan.

On a long-term basis, the compostable bag is not a solution, and the only effective solution, is to ensure plastic is recycled.

Considering the need for hygiene, the use of plastics will help give it long shelf life. There will no fungal and bacterial proliferation, thanks to the inert nature and barrier properties of plastics.

Paper, cloth and jute hold moisture and allow fungus growth and bacterial/ virus production, and both on the inside and outside of the packing. This is one of the main reasons why medical supplies are packed and preserved in plastics.

Thus Plastic bags, when used properly, are more energy efficient and less resource consuming. Additionally, they help in keeping the products packed and transported in good condition.

Further, plastic bags can be easily recycled, so as to produce other plastic products as well. There are no additional chemicals needed for this process.

RadhaKrishnan adds, “In recent years, there has been a spurt in the so-called “Compostable Plastic”. The bio-compostable plastics made from natural resources were introduced ten years ago and these have been predominantly used abroad for carry bags in malls.”

However, these are available normally on payment basis, in view of their higher cost. Among the different materials tried  for the introduction of bio-composting property, starch has been popular, since it is readily available in many countries.

However, pure native starch is not easy to process so as to form films. It has to be modified by plasticizers, blended with other polymers and then made into films by machines used in the plastic industry.

There are a few who claim that these bags are made from corn starch.  However, these when tested rigorously, did not give characteristic peaks in their spectra analysis, which are directly associated with starch.

Hence is can be assumed that these do not contain starch in its native, or modified form. In order to obtain rapid degradation, special additives which accelerate the process of “oxo-degradation” have been used. Such oxo-degradation process depends on photo-catalytic degradation of polymers which needs sunlight and oxygen. These are not easily biodegradable. Biodegradation is considered to be the consumption and conversion of the material by bacteria and worms in the soil, leading to enriched compost formation.

These oxo-degradable plastic bags are more dangerous to the environment. Since the plastic or main polymer gets broken down into a fine powder and small molecules, the material gets more dispersed in the environment than the original.

Microplastic is worse than macroparticulate/ sheet or plastic film, since it cannot be removed and recycled. Such tiny particles go into the rivers, ocean and deep soil.

Oxo-degradative additives have been questioned and many countries are banning these because of their danger to eco-balance on a long-term basis.

From a citizen point of view, I would suggest that citizens should ideally reuse the plastic bags for as long as possible (maybe 30-40times) and later give it for recycling.

I have also spoken to PMC and suggested that they should have plastic shredders installed at different locations at the city, which will help in minimising the load and also ease transport to the recycler.

They should mark all plastics showing they are recycled. Food grade plastic should not be recycled again for food use and instead be reused after recycling for stationery, bucket chairs or in the making of roads.

He further adds that “Instead of banning plastic, recycle and the reuse of plastic has to made compulsory and implemented strictly.

The littering of plastic should be banned and the culprits should be fined.”

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