There’s plastic in your chai-samosa, and India is No. 1 culprit

India banned single-use plastic on July 1, 2022. The sale of things like straws and disposable plastic cups and plates became illegal that day. It was hoped that this step would reduce the country’s plastic footprint. At least 0.6 million tonnes of annual plastic waste was expected to disappear in one stroke.Two years on, the reality is different. Disposable plastic items remain on shop counters. Most people still tote their veggies home in plastic carry bags. And new research published in Nature early in September shows India has moved to the top of the global plastic polluting order with 9.3MT of plastic waste “released” into the environment every year. That’s almost equal to the aggregate contribution of the next three top polluters: Nigeria (3.5 MT), Indonesia (3.4 MT) and China (2.8 MT). The word “released”, however, does not convey the gravity of the problem. The researchers say 5.8MT of India’s waste plastic is burnt and another 3.5MT enters the environment as debris. Before this, in April, the Swiss non-profit ‘Earth Action’ had published a report titled ‘The Plastic Overshoot Day’ that said India is one of the 12 countries responsible for 60% of the planet’s mismanaged plastic waste. medium113692064Is it a poor-nation problem?The report by researchers at the University of Leeds shows that no high-income country (HIC) — defined as having a per capita income of $13,846 (Rs 11.6 lakh) or more — figures among the top 90 global plastic polluters, as most of these nations have 100% waste collection and controlled disposal systems. On the other hand, about 70% of the plastic pollution occurs in just 20 countries, none of which is classified as an HIC. So, are people in poorer countries irresponsible? Not exactly. On a per person basis, low- and middle-income countries (LICs and MICs) produce much less plastic waste. The average for LICs is about 40 grams per person per day. It rises to 70g in lower-middle-income countries (LMCs) and to 100g in upper-middle-income countries (UMCs), as against 170g in HICs. These are averages. Despite being the world’s biggest plastic polluter, India ranks 127th in terms of annual per capita plastic emissions. The average Indian generates only 6.64kg of plastic emissions in a year, or 18.2g a day. The problem with low- and middle-income countries is that a significant portion of their plastic waste is either not collected or disposed of in unmanaged dumpsites. The percentage of uncollected plastic waste rises from 11% in UMCs to 26% in LMCs and peaks at 55% in LICs.Wide regional disparitiesThere are asymmetries within LICs and MICs too. For example, nine South Asian countries emit more plastic waste (15.1MT per year) than the 51 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (13.3MT per year), with Nigeria responsible for about a quarter of Africa’s total. Within countries, urban areas cause more plastic pollution due to their higher population density. However, the report notes that rural areas are often overlooked in data collection, and future efforts to combat plastic pollution must address these communities as well.One of the highlights of the research is that it has created a macroplastic emissions inventory using a new methodology to quantify emissions for 50,702 municipality-level administrations. medium nocaption113691959Per-person defence won’t workOne way to look at India’s plastic pollution is to compare it with the population. The data shows India, with roughly 18% of the world’s population, is responsible for about 20% of plastic pollution. So, in per capita terms, things don’t look so bad. However, China, which also has the same proportion of the world’s population, throws away only 30% as much waste plastic every year.The report says India’s plastic footprint poses a serious threat to the environment, public health and the economy. There was a time when plastic waste was seen as a nuisance, an eyesore, but now we know that extremely fine particles, known as microplastics, have entered the food chain. They are in the water we drink and the food we eat. They are also flowing in our blood.Then there’s the environmental angle to worry about. Climate change has made severe weather events like cloudbursts more likely, and plastics in the soil and in drains increase the severity of flooding. medium nocaption113691681How bad globally?While India does not look pretty in this picture, how bad are things globally? The Leeds team says 251 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated each year. This is a massive amount, equivalent to an island of plastic nearly 30km long, 30km wide, and 10m high. With an area of 900 sq-km, this island would be 50% bigger than Mumbai city. In terms of mass, it would be 40% more than the world’s annual sugar production. The plastic waste statistic is alarming for two reasons. One, plastic production has been rising for decades and has touched 400 million tonnes already. Now, if more than 60% of this (251 million tonnes) goes waste, the danger is that plastic waste volumes will keep rising with per capita consumption in poor countries. The second and more alarming point is that about a fifth — currently 52.1 million tonnes — of plastic waste ends up in the environment without any proper management. The research shows only 12% of the plastic produced has been incinerated and 9% recycled. The rest is either buried in landfills or released into the environment, including the oceans. Without meaningful action, flows of plastic waste into ponds, rivers and oceans are expected to nearly treble from around 11 million metric tonnes in 2016 to around 29 million metric tonnes in 2040. medium113690787Time to find a solutionIn November, government representatives from around the world will meet in Busan, South Korea, for the fifth and final round of negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic pollution. So, coming just two months before the meeting, the Leeds report is bad news for India.When the leaders meet, they will look at all aspects of waste management, including its cost. In 2020, the global direct cost of waste management was an estimated $252 billion — close to the net worth of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. By 2050, this could balloon to a staggering $640.3 billion. That’s why, the UN Environment Assembly resolved in March to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution that covers the marine environment.