The scenario:
According to reports, India
produces about 26,000 tons of plastic wastes every day, making our country the
15th biggest plastic polluter in the world. It is observed that Indian roads,
rivers, lakes, dumping areas have huge mounds of plastic wastes. During
monsoons, water logging occurs due to the plastic garbage accumulation in the
public places. The ugly sights of plastic bottles, bags, plates lying here and
there are common in different metropolitan cities in India. The waterlogged
places soon become the breeding places of mosquitoes.
waterlogged places pose major health-hazard for the residents of the
surrounding areas due to the spread of the mosquito borne diseases.
Municipality authorities take up the responsibility of burning the solid wastes
accumulated over time, however this causes dense air pollution creating serious
health threats for the street dwelling animals like cats, dogs, buffalos and
even for near living residents, which is often suffocating and even fatal for
some.
Taking this serious issue under consideration, Indian Government has
taken the initiative of promoting the single use of plastic bags publicly. In the
Parliament, Lok Sabha secretariat has ceased the use of non-reusable plastic
bottles and other plastic items. Railway premises are made with no plastic
zones, with vendors being encouraged to use usable plastic items to reduce the
plastic footprint. About 8% of solid plastic waste is produced by the capital
city Delhi, followed by other big cities like Kolkata, Ahmedabad. Out of the 25,940
tonnes of plastic wastes produced by India everyday, 94% is thermoplastic or
reusable items like PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), PVC (Polyvinyl chloride).
Materials like PET, PVC can be recycled easily 7-9 times after they are
disposed of. According to the CPCB reports, India recycles around 80.29% of
plastic wastes, collected by the army of rag pickers who collect and segregate
the waste materials. Merely 28.4% of the non-recyclable wastes are treated
before disposed of, while rest are left to pollute lands and water bodies. Here
is a brief study of the plastic waste crisis faced by different metropolitan
cities in India.
Delhi: According to a 2015 case study conducted by CPCB
(Central Pollution Control Board), Delhi topped the list with 690 tonnes of
daily plastic waste production followed by Chennai, Kolkata, and Mumbai. The
huge heap of the solid waste in the capital city is gaining enormous size day
by day. The dumps of Delhi are identified as the most hazardous, least
regulated in the world. In spite of having a huge workforce of garbage
collectors in action, Delhi still tops the list of largest solid waste producers
in India. Places like Bhalswa, Ghazipur and Okhla dumpsites in Delhi are
already overloaded. In July, National Green Tribunal sought compliance from
Delhi government with the tribunal’s December 3, 2018 in order to deposit 25
crore rupees with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for unregulated
plastic handling. The Government is directed to deposit the money as
compensation for causing the harm to the environment and further furnishing
proper performance.
Kolkata: About 30,000 people live on and around Kolkata’s
landfill site at Dhapa. Garbage collectors clean up around 4.5 million people
and dump around 4000 metric tonnes of waste at Dhapa site. In the foot of large
garbage mountains, there is a slum where thousands of rag pickers or scrap dealers live
and earn by sorting the wastes and recycling them accordingly. Near to this place,
there is a cremation
centre, where many unidentified dead bodies – most of them corpses of hawkers
or street dwellers are burned. This creates long lasting and serious health
problems for the people seeking lively hood here, which the State and Central
Government successively ignore. It does not stop here, there is
inextinguishable fire burning due to the careless dumping of hazardous
chemicals which continuously causes air and land pollution.
Mumbai : In order to combat the growing problem of plastic
menace in the state of Maharashtra, Government has imposed a ban on several items made of plastic and thermocol (Polystyrene) dishes, cups, plates, glasses, spoons, straw, containers etc. Residents of
Mumbai have been given the time until June 23, to get rid from all kinds of
plastic items. The ban is implemented not only on the manufacture however also
on use, storage and distribution of the plastic items and materials.
Reportedly, Mumbai was producing about 700 metric tonnes of plastic wastes,
which resulted in the clogging of drains, polluting beaches and causing air
pollution due to the burning of the plastic garbage. The State Government took
a big step causing 1.84 crore people to dump plastic wastes.
Chennai: The case study data estimated that this city
produces around 25,940 tonnes of plastic wastes per day. The State Government
has strictly prohibited the littering of plastic and solid wastes carelessly,
they have been informed to hand over all the generated waste materials to the
respective agency for proper recycling, disposal and degradation of wastes
produced in the city. This systematic disposal of generated wastes will not
allow water logging and the burning of wastes can be avoided. This step has
added to the advantage of overcoming all the serious health problems of the
public associated with irresponsible dwelling of wastes in the city and
prevents land, water, and air pollution too to a large extent.
What we are to do?
1. The cities should promote better
holistic solid waste management systems by investing in sustainable disposal
infrastructure, improving waste collection systems.
2. The communities should be educated
in using recycled plastic as filler for cement blocks, ropes, and household
goods such as baskets and mats.
3. Cities should encourage more
plastic recycling industries so that the recycling and reusing of the plastic
materials in a faster pace.
4. Proper collection and disposal
systems are in place of different cities, which are necessary to ensure all
waste is managed in an environmentally sound manner.
5. Different eco friendly plastic
handling policies should be implemented and followed in different metropolitan
cities in India.
References
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