Relevance: GS-3: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Key Phrases: Central Pollution Control Board, Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2021, single-use plastic, Environmental Protection Act, 1986, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Open Dumping/Landfills ,Leachate, Co Processing

Why in News?

• Recently, the Central Pollution Control Board in its annual report on plastic waste management highlighted that only 14 states have detailed data on plastic waste usage and recycling, and most reported numbers of waste recycling units are in poor conditions.

Factual Information

• In 2012, the world generated 1.3 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste per year. According to a 2018 World Bank report, this number is set to hit 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050.
• To meet this demand, the global waste management market – which was estimated at $400 billion-$1,600 billion in 2020-2021 – is expected to reach $700-$2,483 billion by 2030
• India has a waste management industry estimated at $1.3 billion.
• As of January 2020, estimates indicated that India handled approximately 0.15 million tonnes of solid waste.
• Of the 54 million tonnes of solid waste produced in India, 3.3 million tonnes was plastic.

Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2021

1. The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of the identified single-use plastic will be prohibited with effect from the 1st July, 2022.
2. The permitted thickness of the plastic bags, currently 50 microns, will be increased to 75 microns from 30th September, 2021, and to 120 microns from the 31st December, 2022.
3. The Central Pollution Control Board, along with state pollution bodies, will monitor the ban, identify violations, and impose penalties already prescribed under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986.
4. The plastic packaging waste, which is not covered under the phase out of identified single use plastic items, shall be collected and managed in an environmentally sustainable way through the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) of the Producer, importer and Brand owner (PIBO), as per Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.

Analysis of various solutions for Plastic Waste Management

1. Open Dumping/Landfills
   • In India, landfills – synonymous with open dumping are undoubtedly the cheapest, short-term option for managing solid waste, which usually contains about 6% plastic.
   • Today, only 20% of collected waste is sorted and processed, while 80% is dumped as mixed waste in landfills.
   • IIT Bombay study, which assessed different waste management scenarios for the 9,000 tonnes of solid waste produced daily by Mumbai, confirms that landfills are the most monetarily economical option in India.
   • The results showed that recovering recyclables and using landfills are the least expensive way to handle waste over 20 years. This system is likely to cost $19 (Rs 1,400) per tonne, whereas incineration would cost nearly double, $36-$38 (Rs 2,800 per ton).
   • However, many studies show that landfills are not sustainable as mixed waste has severe ecological effects due to substantial emission of greenhouse gas such as methane and production of  leachates. Leachate is a form of “liquid pollution” containing many toxins and pathogens that is formed when water seeps through waste piles.
      

2. Incineration

   • Waste Incineration is a good solution: waste recycling costs were offset by income from compost and electricity through waste incineration and biogas.
   • Incineration has been a strategy for handling plastic waste in many countries. Japan and Singapore have been incinerating 37% and 78% of their municipal solid waste, respectively.
   • The waste-to-energy incineration market in China has vastly expanded since 2017 and the country plans to build a further 600 plants by 2025. Sweden began importing trash from other European countries in 2016 to power its waste-to-energy plants. However, waste-to-energy in India has had a stormy past and will likely have a rocky future

3. Recycling

   • A 2005 US case study seems to support this by showing that recycling consumes lesser energy and creates fewer environmental burdens than either landfills or incineration.
   • However, the issue of technology transfer and proper waste collection and segregation defeating recycling as a very viable option.

4. Co Processing

   • Co processing – using plastic waste as an alternative fuel – in cement kilns is another way to burn plastic gainfully.
   • However still the technology is in nascent stage in India.

Underlying challenges

1. Poor waste segregation: only high-value plastics like polyethylene terephthalate and high-density polyethylene are recovered for recycling.The vast majority of single-use plastics, multilayer packaging and polystyrene end up in open dumps, eventually leaking into the environment.
2. Poor waste handling: In 2019-2020, only 60% of India’s plastic waste was handled according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s guidelines. The remaining was likely burnt, lost in nearby water bodies, or dumped as mixed waste into landfills, which are usually nothing more than vast, poorly maintained, overflowing dumpsites.
3. Poor maintenance of Landfills sites: Toxic chemicals and microplastics leaching out of untreated waste piles are lowering life expectancies of locals.
4. Calculations show that Delhi’s three landfills at Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur are collectively responsible for environmental damage worth Rs 450 crore as per a 2018 study by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Central Pollution Control Board and the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi
5. Negative Externalities: UN Environment Programme report on marine plastics estimates that land-based sources contribute 80% to the 11 million tonnes of plastic entering the oceans annually.
6. Poor collection of Data: Plastic experts said data-backed decisions must for handling of waste, and successful running of waste-to-energy plants.
7. Issues with incineration: Incineration plants have been unsuccessful in India due to following reasons
   • Most waste-to-energy projects rely on fuel from municipal solid waste, which in India, is of low calorific value.
   • Waste-to-energy plants are expensive.
   • Despite several financial subsidies and incentives, electricity produced by these plants costs more (Rs 7/kWh) than electricity from coal/solar plants (Rs 3-4 /kWh).
   • These plants often burn mixed waste unsuited for incineration and manage emissions and fly ash so poorly that they are extremely polluting.
8. Informalisation of waste management sector: According to the PlastIndia Foundation, the plastic recycling industry in India employs over 1,00,000 people with a majority (10,000+ units) in the unorganised sector as compared to the organised sector (100+ units).

Conclusion

• Despite these setbacks, proper plastic waste management still has enormous potential to reduce the industrial and environmental costs associated with the production of virgin plastic from fossil fuels. Recycling one tonne of plastic is estimated to save 13.8 barrels of oil, 5,744 kWh of energy and 810 cubic feet of landfill space.
• But until the day that a plastic bottle or polythene bag is converted back into a plastic bottle or polythene bag, efforts should be made on awareness generation for low usage and effective implementation of rules and guidelines in letter and spirit.

Mains Question

Q. India’s policies on environmental regulation are myopic in design, ambitious on intent but feeble on outcomes. Examine this statement with respect to Plastic Waste Management Rules 2021.(10 marks)

Source: The scroll