Alarming! Plastic consumption growing at 10%; plastic waste over 20%

While plastic consumption in the country is growing at nearly 10% every year, waste generation from plastic is growing at over 20% every year.

India's plastic consumption grew from 13.7 million tonnes (MT) in FY17 to 19.8 MT by FY20 at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.7%. But at the same time, plastic waste generation in India grew by 20% CAGR from 1.6 MT in FY17 to 3.4 MT by FY20, says a study by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Praxis Global Alliance. Among all states, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu generate the most amount of plastic waste, occupying 38% of the total waste output.

Of the 3.4 MT of plastic waste in a year, only 30% of it is recycled. The rest is sent to landfills or aquatic dumps. High-density (durable) and low-density (flexible)  polyethylene used in packaging products like bottles of FMCG products, grocery bags and food wrappings contributed to the largest proportion of plastic waste at 2.3 MT in FY20.

The study finds packaging applications consume the most amount of plastic in the country and in FY20, 11.5 MT of plastic was used in packaging, predominantly used in flexible packaging such as food packets and delivery boxes compared to rigid packaging such as kitchen storage containers and personal water bottles. Building and construction materials like pipes, cables, storage tanks and wires account for the next, with 2.6 MT.

Greenhouse films, low tunnels, micro irrigation: drip/sprinklers, crates, pallets etc used in agriculture consume 1.8MT a year. The automotive industry consumes about 1.4MT a year to make bumpers, seats, dashboards, fuel systems, body panels, lighting etc. Electrical and electronics products require about 0.4 MT of plastics. FMCG products such as toiletries, cosmetics, furniture, toys, luggage and other lifestyle-related products in households account for 0.1 MT, according to the study.

It says only one million tonnes of plastic waste is treated out of 3.4 million tonnes collected annually. Sorting processes need to be strengthened as only highly sorted waste is mechanically recycled and mixed plastics can only be chemically recycled, which needs high energy and costs. India lacks large-scale technology to recycle contaminated or mixed plastic waste. The lack of bio-refineries to produce bioplastics from plantation waste is an issue and manufacturing plastics from bio-based raw material requires high investment, compliance and logistics costs, observes the study.