ANNOUNCEMENTS
Packaging is the most primitive form of storing goods including food products. Packaging in simple terms is “the technology of covering an item for its storage, distribution, sale and use”.
In modern day life, every item is packaged with materials, optimum for its storage and distribution. Plastics as a packaging material has the inherent advantages of being light weight, durable & strong. Additionally, it has excellent barrier properties, low energy consumption, easy processing and inert characteristics. Hence, users & designers in the packaging industry opt for plastics as the material of choice.
The overt advantages of plastics may be considered as one of the primary reasons contributing towards the multi-fold increase in its use since the mid - twentieth century. It has shot up from about 1.5 Mn Tons in 1950 to 300 Mn tons in 2015. Packaging is the single largest sector of application consuming about 40% of total plastics. However, a high volume of plastic packaging is discarded to the waste stream haphazardly causing a waste management issue. According to the 2018-19 CPCB report, India generates 3.3 MM tonnes of plastic waste annually, of which 24% comprises of packaging waste (UNIDO). Such high volume of plastic waste, stands to pose a threat not only to the environment, but also to human health and wildlife. Today, plastic waste management has become one of the most challenging tasks for the civic authorities.
To add to this challenge, when people do not follow proper waste management rules, a lot of plastic waste ends up in landfills instead of being reused or recycled. It slowly enters the wet-lands and water bodies creating an environmental challenge. Plastic Waste Management Rules have not been implemented effectively in India. Plastics are 100% “recyclable” and their energy can be recovered. However, inadequate waste collection infrastructure results in the waste being either dumped in the landfills or discarded causing an environmental and health hazard.
This dissertation aims to provide solutions and recommendations towards reducing the amount of waste generation, recycling the waste instead of haphazard disposal and to help formulate norms and a framework that deals exclusively with plastic packaging waste.
KEY WORDS: Plastics, Packaging, Circular economy, Plastic waste management, Recycle.
