The War On Plastics

On the 1st of July, the Government of India joined a long list of countries in banning single-use plastics. While the present ban is only for a short list of 21 “low-utility and high littering potential” items, it is one among India’s concrete steps towards reducing plastic consumption in the country and increasing the proportion of recycling.  India is among 124 countries that signed, earlier this year, a legally-binding resolution to address plastic waste from production to disposal. As part of this, it also becomes important for the government to take steps to reduce use of plastics that are difficult to recycle and cause significant environmental damage.  

Plastics were introduced in the middle of the last century, and their damaging effects to the environment have been known for long. Yet, the road to banning and mandating recycling of plastics will long and arduous since it involves significant cost and economic reorientation. In this direction, one of the earliest targets was always going to be single-use plastics. Single-use plastics (SUPs), as the name suggests, are those plastic products that are used only once such as plastic cutlery, straws, packaging etc. A global report has identified that single-use plastic accounts for about a third of all plastics consumed, which eventually contribute to filling up landfills or are burnt resulting in air pollution. 

India is not a large user of single use plastic. A recent report ranked India at 94 among the top 100 users of SUP, with even city-states like Singapore ahead of us. However, the measure to ban SUPs is among a sliding scale of measures that India has been taking over the years to reduce the usage of plastics. In September 2021, polythene bags under 75 microns were banned, and in December 2022, this ban will be extended to polythene bags under 120 microns. While there can be no denying that the plastic ban is essential and inevitable in the long-term, this phase-wise approach helps manufacturers plan their manufacturing and move to more sustainable forms of plastic. 

A measure of this scale has a set of fallouts and an equally alluring set of emerging opportunities. While the deadline has already kicked in, the Government’s ability to enforce a ban of this scale remains suspect given the limited resources of the state and central pollution control board. For the ban to be taken seriously, the government needs to begin enforcement with all seriousness. This leads to important questions about the loss of economic activity and the small/medium industries that would eventually face closure due to the ban on their end product. The government needs to recognize its responsibility towards such units and provide alternate livelihood measures to ensure the economy is not impacted. In this particular case, the manufacturers cannot complain that they have not been given adequate notice, as the Prime Minister’s first announcement on the impending ban on SUPs was made way back on 15th August 2019 and a formal notification was issued 11 months ago. 

This ban would also result in slightly higher pricing for daily-use products. It is estimated that while a plastic straw costs about 10 – 15 paisa, a paper straw costs about 4 times this. This increased cost is bound to have a cascading effect on customers. The industry has also opined that there are not enough domestic manufacturers of alternatives, and this would necessitate imports in the short term. It will be important for the government to provide interim measures like GST and income tax benefits to set up parks of manufacturing plastic alternatives. This could potentially be a billion-dollar industry, and Indian entrepreneurs have only hesitated this far because of the government’s lack of policy certainty.  The present plastic ban would enable creation of significant market for alternatives, and the Indian banks, with their newly cleaned up balance sheets and high liquidity positions, would be only too happy to lend to creation of manufacturing capacity. Leading users like Amul and Parle have already called tenders and are encouraging capacity addition on alternatives. 

The plastic ban is now in place, and it is time for India to only go to greater strength from here. The Prime Minister has proven himself to be a champion of the environment by taking a leadership role in banning single-use plastics and making the announcement himself. The Government needs to provide adequate support in manufacturing alternatives and ramping up recycling activity to ensure India’s commitment in global treaties are fulfilled. 

Shravan Sampath is an energy sector professional with around 2 decades of experience across thermal and renewable energy with leading Indian and global energy majors. Shravan brings a unique insight of looking at evolving energy policy from a practical perspective and industry lens.