A Plastic-Free Future – Is it a Dream or Reality?

A Plastic-Free Future – Is it a Dream or Reality?

When it comes to environment, planet earth faces a myriad number of challenges – from climate change to increasing water demands for an ever-increasing global population. Climate activists around the world are raising their voice on sensitizing the authorities towards the impending environmental dangers that planet earth faces. Local activism has been a key feature of many such activists, that address the peculiar ecological challenges of a specific region. In this context, the recent 21-day hunger strike by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk in Ladakh shows the growing resentment that citizens have towards the inaction of authorities on sustainability issues. Sonam Wangchuk, who inspired Aamir Khan’s character of Phunsuk Wangdu in the all-time blockbuster movie “3 Idiots”, was fasting to remind the Government of India of their promise to safeguard and protect the fragile land of the Himalayas and to restore democracy in the region. Wangchuk undertook this climate fast in sub-zero temperatures after the talks between the Leh-based Apex Body and the central government hit a deadlock. His fast evoked massive support from people and greater sensitization about issues concerning the region. It shows us the power of people’s initiative in dealing with the urgent issues that face our only home – planet earth.

And one issue which has steadily climbed the urgency list of planet activists, and deserves immediate attention is the issue of indiscriminate use of plastic across the world. Plastic waste, being non-biodegradable, has increasingly been found in sensitive ecosystems, causing threat to aquatic and terrestrial life forms. It has entered the food chain, which even in trace amounts is known to cause serious health conditions. This is why Earthday.org, the organisation which has been galvanizing billions of people towards saving the planet has declared “Planet vs Plastic” as the theme for Earth Day 2024. This day is observed on 22nd April every year and has in the past resulted in increased awareness and sensitization on major environmental issues facing the earth.

Plastic Waste – An Exponential Crisis

Light, cheap and durable – these are the three characteristic causes behind the pervasive use of plastic globally. Realizing the commercial benefits of plastic, companies around the world gradually stepped up the production of different forms of plastic for packaging their products. As it became mainstream, the recycling mechanism globally didn’t catch up with its skyrocketing pace of production. As a result, rivers started getting chocked with them, cities started dumping them in piles in the open, and the seas got littered with floating packaging materials. If its usage is not reduced, then it is predicted that by 2050 there would be more plastic than fishes in the oceans. This according to the United Nations will lead to the irreparable destruction of marine life. Speaking of exact figures, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimates that every year we abandon around 8 million plastic garbage in water, leading to destruction of habitat and endangering many species of life. This plastic waste can exist in environment for up to 500 years.

From packets of food items such as noodles, chips or flour, to bottles of mineral water, cold-drinks, juices and soda – the ubiquitous plastic packaging has left its signature everywhere. Even the small gutkha and polythene bags when considered on a national scale, make for mountains of debris – clogging up drains, and choking the intestines of stray cattle. A typical sea beach is littered with different types of plastic waste such as cutlery, straws, stirrers, cigarette butts, food containers, cups, balloons, balloon sticks, chocolate wrappers, water bottles, and polythene bags. Under the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, the Union government banned several products to mitigate pollution caused by littering of single use plastic. But the usage of polythene bags has only resurfaced after some time of enforcement of the ban.

My City Links through its interaction with different people of significance, tried to throw light upon many aspects of the plastic problem, steps taken by environmental activists in this regard and efforts of dedicated NGOs in this field. 

Plastic Ban and the Plight of Shopkeepers and Customers

As per news reports, between October 2022 and March 2023, the Bhubaneswar Municipality Corporation (BMC) seized 3.5 metric tonnes of single-use plastic and collected Rs 3.85 lakh fine from violators. In the middle of all this action are small shopkeepers, who gave excuses of a number of practical difficulties, on ceasing the use plastic bags. Heavy fines ranging from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 are being imposed on those shopkeepers who continue to use polythene bags.

My City Links first spoke to Deepak Mallick, who owns a shop selling different types of carry bags. Resisting the ban, Deepak replied, “The BMC squad is raiding our shops every now and then. They seized plastic bags worth thousands of rupees from me in their last raid. I sell these plastic bags because people are still demanding it. Even though one can get biodegradable bags at Rs. 180 per kg, still then our customers prefer plastic bags. Due to the ban, supply of plastic bags from Odisha has stopped, as most of our bags are now being supplied from Hyderabad.”

Debashis Das, a fruit seller finds himself in a perplexing situation after the ban. He shared, “Very few customers are coming to us with their own bags. They all want polythene for carrying fruits as it is light, cheap and handy. I also provide cloth bags, but that reduces my profit margin.”  Flower seller Himanshu Bal had a similar response, “We flower sellers struggle to make our ends meet. For us paper or cloth bags are costlier as no customer is willing to pay for them. We have no option but to use polythene.”

Dibyajyoti Swain, a customer, gave his own perspective, “When I go to the market to buy things, normally if it is for a large number of grocery items, then I carry a cloth bag. But when I decide to buy things in small quantities, as I don’t have the cloth bag with me, I have to adjust with whatever packaging options the shopkeeper provides. This is when I am forced to buy plastic bags.” Another customer, Pradosh Nayak aired his opinion, “Plastic being cheaper is more preferred by the shopkeepers. We customers have to reject this and demand the alternatives. Merely banning will not solve the problem.”

Current Scenario and Future Projections for Odisha

My City Links had an enlightening conversation with Charudutta Panigrahi, a public policy expert and an advisor to different governments. He is also the president of FIDR, which is a non-profit think tank of Odisha that has taken up the task of tackling the plastic problem along with many other important issues. Charudutta ranks global plastic pollution problem at the same level of criticality as climate change, ecology and environmental issues. Charudutta voiced his opinion that, in Odisha we still don’t have the consciousness as a civil society to tackle this problem. He said, “People don’t realize the importance of this issue, as they are not sensitized towards it. Civil society organizations that are there in Odisha are yet to take this up on a massive scale as a critical issue.” Charudutta terms this apparent apathy to be a systemic as well as an awareness problem. 

Explaining on the awareness front Charudutta asked, “We public have the tendency to always complain that the government is lacking in taking necessary action. But my question is what are we as general public doing? What am I doing? Whenever you buy a plastic bag or a bottle from shopkeepers, are you asking for an alternative to it? Have you raised the issue with BDA or BMC that from today onwards I want this alternative to be available?” 

Explaining the consequences of public apathy, Charudutta said, “Our drains are choking with plastic, the cattle are swallowing plastic. Everywhere we see, from shops to hospitals, use of plastic is prevalent. Plastic waste is being burned, which is carcinogenic and poisonous. Who is raising these issues? It is not enough to voice these issues in a forum. One has to practice it. For that we have to sensitize the civil society. And to do that we have to take up voluntarism.”

As per projections of FIDR, in the coming years Bhubaneswar will see 80% of total migration of people taking place in Odisha, coming from different rural areas of the state. Charudutta further explained, “As the population of the capital city goes up, the number of slums will also go up. As of now there are 400-plus slums. Our projection is that by 2030, Bhubaneswar would have 650-700 slums. These low income groups, who are very less aware will also spike the usage of plastic, much more than what it is now. So the required sensitization is not there in the civil society at the moment.”

Necessary Action and the Role of Civil Society

Charudutta is of the view that at a systemic level, there should be a complete ban on plastic, which should be monitored by civil policing. He made the unique proposition that there should be anti-plastic cadres of volunteers in the capital, industrial and small towns, as all urban areas are going to grow in the coming years. Citing the challenges to a complete ban on plastic, Charudutta said, “The big challenge in implementing this policy is going to come from traders, vendors, small business owners and companies. Their logic is that a complete ban on plastic would create inconvenience. But we should not think about that. If we always give the excuse of inconvenience, then we cannot fight this problem. We need to understand that Bhubaneswar is going to be an important economic center in India by 2030. So, we have to prepare our policies accordingly.” 

Any ban on plastic, according to Charudutta, should not be confined to its usage, but also extend to its production. “It should be brought in the Industry Policy Resolution of our state that there would be a complete reduction of plastic production. This can be possible only if the civil society puts pressure upon the government. The hard reality is we don’t have a vibrant civil society in Bhubaneswar.”, said Charudutta.

He shared an action plan for this, “The different stakeholders like policymakers and business houses have to be brought together through various trade forums such as CII, FICCI, Assocham. The civil society organizations have to sensitize these stakeholder groups. The volunteers for anti-plastic cadres should be selected from these different agencies and platforms based on their interest. Social Clubs such as the Rotary Club’s and Lions Club’s reach can be utilized for this. These are the civil society organizations. Bhubaneswar is full of such organizations. It is their job to sensitize the society and do voluntarism. These civil society organizations can do so through providing internships to college going students in this field. Such action would promote a sense of belongingness towards the city and responsibility among the students. The social media can be roped in for this and campaigns against plastic can be done by dedicated forums.”

Charudutta concluded by terming the civil society to be the necessary torchbearers for a plastic-free future. With willingness from them, it is not impossible to achieve such a lofty ideal.

Odia Ploggers take up the mantle

The first step towards plastic waste management is its collection. India saw major clean up drives in the last decade such as the government initiated Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. But it was not specific to plastic waste collection. In this regard, the concept of “plogging”, which started in 2016 in Sweden started a global awareness about plastic waste problem. Plogging is a combination of plucking plastic waste and jogging. It started in India on 2017-18 and became a trend in Delhi and Mumbai regions, where there was the issue of acute plastic littering. In Odisha, a young man named Satyabrat Samal has picked up the mantle to lead major plogging drives throughout the state on important locations and create awareness among citizens. My City Links team spoke to Satyabrat Samal, who is the Founder and Director of the Sattvic Soul Foundation, which works on environmental issues concerning the eastern region of India. 

Satyabrat said, “We are the largest plastic free community of Eastern zone of India. We have done 550 plogging campaigns so far. We are the first to start any such activity in Odisha. We do it in sea beaches, jungles, rivers, and temples every Sunday. We are a team of around 1000 youths working in different sectors of society like doctors, engineers, and so on. We are also working on climate change and education.”

We asked Satyabrat as to why Sattvic Soul Foundation (SSF) is named so. He replied, “Sattvic Soul name is given because in return of our activities for the society, we want people’s blessing. Our goal is to have peace of mind derived from satisfaction of having served the society. Sattvic is a Sanskrit word, which means good qualities and souls denotes a group of dedicated individuals with the pure intention of upliftment of people. In 10 states we have our microteams, and are working with youth teams in Uganda, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. In Odisha we are working with UNICEF, WWF and Tata Power. We are the implementing partners of plastic tide turners of WWF under UNEP for Odisha.”

How is Plogging Done?

As plogging involves various safety risks, ensuring safety is the first step in this activity.  Regarding the safety precautions taken during their plogging drives, Satyabrat answered, “Normally we employ highly trained volunteers for handling medical waste. But for parks in cities, where you find chips and kurkure packets littered, we don’t need that kind of an expert team. In case of mangroves we tell everyone to wear specialized shoes for carrying out plogging. In case of rainy days, we advise our ploggers to be fully covered. We advise them to wear proper gloves. In the three years of our operation, we haven’t faced any kind of major accidents. We recommend them to wear proper gloves and helmet wherever necessary.”

Before starting their activity, the plogging team of SSF takes an oath which includes the to-do list and purpose behind the drive. They mention the pros and cons before starting the activity. For instance, on 19th March, 2024, the team had gone to the banks of Mahanadi for plogging. There they took all kinds of precautions such as dealing with muddy waters, hazardous wastes and first-aid. After completion of the drive, there were various necessary steps to be followed for hygiene, such as removing the clothes used while plogging, washing those clothes and training everyone to do so. When SSF had begun, they started with using vegetable sack bags for collecting waste and informed every plogger to come with their bags. 

The SSF team is planning to initiate a plastic audit for the waste collected after each drive. This is to classify the type of waste generated. In the past the SSF team has tagged various companies in social media posts to highlight their plastic waste footprint and create an urgency among these companies for remedial action. Talking about the effectiveness of plogging initiatives, Satyabrat said, “We have set an example for all ploggers in India. We are getting a lot of calls consulting on climate action. People acknowledge that we are setting a trend for the youth to follow. We do everything with a spirit of voluntarism. We don’t pay our team anything as everyone participates with their individual initiative.”

Sattvic Soul Foundation’s Plogging Experiences and Message

The quantity of plastic obtained in a plogging drive depends upon the geographical location it is being carried out in. “If you find that Gopalpur and Paradeep beaches are clean today, then it is because of our hard work. It is common to find 15-50kg waste in one tourist place. We regularly go to places like Shikharchandi in Bhubaneswar, Khandagiri, and Barunei. At Barunei we collected nearly 150 kgs of plastic. There is no important tourist place, where we have not done plogging – be it symbolic or regular. We do symbolic plogging for creating awareness among the local people. We also work in coordination with Cuttack and Bhubaneswar Municipalities during our drives.”, said Satyabrat Samal.

From conducting plastic waste collection at the hilltops of Deomali and Mahendragiri, to cleaning sea beaches and spreading education on waste management, the Sattvic Soul Foundation is leaving no stone unturned to fight plastic pollution. The collected plastic wastes are recycled in coordination with various SHGs for developing recycled products.

“Our message for the readers of My City Links is that we should all come together so that we can make Odisha plastic free. Like the Indian Independence Movement, a movement can be started to stop plastic pollution. If everyone contributes a little bit towards this goal, then we can achieve it in very less time”, Satyabrat concluded.

Plastic Research and Policy Prescription – TERI

When it comes to conducting research on different issues on the sustainability front, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi has been a guiding light for different stakeholders in the field. As of 2024, TERI is into its 50th year of research on sustainability issues impacting the unserved population through applied research innovations and solutions. Dr Suneel Pandey is working with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) as Director of Circular Economy and Waste Management Division. He spoke to My City Links about the many aspects of plastic pollution problem.

Suneel informed us that as per estimates of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) from its annual report for plastic waste management 2020-21, the estimated generation of solid in India is around 62 million tonnes (MT) per annum. The reported generation of plastic waste is around 4.1 MT which is around 6.6% of total solid waste generation. Out of 4.1 MT plastic waste generation around 1.1 MT is recycled/treated as reported by various states in India. The rest balance remains uncollected, and hence littered and contributes to fires in cities at waste disposal sites. The littered waste also reaches the water bodies and not only pollutes them but also finally reaches coastal waters and hence contributes to marine litter.

Suneel highlighted TERI’s approach in dealing with this problem, “TERI as a research organization is helping not only the national government, but also state governments and working with bilateral/multilateral agencies like the World Bank, German Technical Cooperation, Norwegian Embassy and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to come out with policy prescription exploring circular economy solutions for plastic waste management. They are also involved in preparing an action plan at the state level for plastic waste management, marine litter action plan and conduct of awareness, training and capacity building for different stakeholders.”

Plastic Pollution in Odisha – Some Statistics and Facts

Suneel stated that for curtailing the ever increasing production of plastic there has to be conscious awareness and determination among the consumers and producers of different products and packaging materials to look at alternatives, develop market for the same and look for reduction of unnecessary packaging and long lasting packaging options.

Quoting statistics for Odisha Suneel informed, “As per the CPCB annual report on plastic waste management for the year 2020-21, the estimated plastic waste generation in Odisha was report at 51,270 tonnes per annum. All Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) have been instructed to implement the provision of Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rule, 2016. All ULBs have been instructed to send segregated plastic waste to nearby cement manufacturing units for co-processing of the waste in cement kilns. Plastic waste sent for co-processing in the cement plant is 283.132 TPA (tonnes per annum) and plastic waste use for granules making is 1452 TPA. There are 20 registered plastic manufacturing units & 6 units of multilayer packaging units in Odisha. There are no unregistered plastic manufacturing/recycling unit in Odisha.”

In Odisha, TERI is working closely with CIPET’s Laboratory for Advance Research in Polymeric Materials (LARPM) for engaging stakeholders for capacity building and generating research based solutions for better plastic waste management. LARPM is engaged in doing path breaking research on plastic packaging material, developing technology options for recovery and recycling, and its dissemination.

Adequate Alternatives to Plastic

The Odisha state government in its Action Plan on Plastic Waste Management, 2022 listed out a few alternatives to plastic that are being produced and promoted through different Self-Help Groups. When people start using these items, it can drastically reduce the demand for plastic products, and in turn help curtail plastic waste generation. My City Links lists six of these alternatives, along with their advantages:

Banana Leaf Packaging and Plates

The tropical climate of Odisha makes banana leaves abundantly available for use. Added to that, these leaves have been traditionally used in Odisha in the past before the advent of plastic. Apart from being natural, banana leaves are water tight, clean, cheap, attractive and compostable. Vegetables and fruits can be packaged in bulk using a properly folded leaf while purchasing for household use. Banana leaf are also used as plates for serving food in rural Odisha. They are known to be perfect food savers and can last for 3-6 days at room temperature.

Beeswax Wrap

An alternative to traditional plastic wraps for food, beeswax wraps have plenty of advantages. Beeswax is used by honeybees to build the honeycomb. These are collected by beekeepers during honey harvesting, in a sustainable way that does not harm the bees. When used as wraps for packaging perishable food items, they keep the food fresh, as they are not airtight. They are reusable and can last up to a year with proper care. Apart from being natural and sustainable, they are also easy to clean and maintain. 

Areca Leaf Plates

The Areca leaf plates last longer than banana leaf plates, are sturdy and safe for microwave use. These leaf plates are versatile and can be used in picnics and parties for meals. They are an eco-friendly alternative of plastic, with the added advantage of being capable of handling hot and cold food items.

Paper Carrier Bags 

Paper carrier bags have found acceptance in shopping malls for a nominal price. They can be reused multiple times, stronger than plastic bags and biodegradable. However, paper carrier bags unlike plastic are not water resistant and more expensive.

Reusable Cloth Bags

Though reusable cloth bags have more upfront cost than plastic bags, the very fact that they can be used many times, decreases its lifetime cost than single use plastic. These bags are stylish, convenient, stronger and leak proof, making them a better option for daily use.

Pottery and Ceramics

Being made of moulded clay, pottery and ceramics are a natural option for plates and water containers. They are more elegant, healthy and eco-friendly than plastic and have deep cultural significance around different regions of the world.

In the battle against plastic pollution, it is clear that there is no single solution that can solve the problem. Thus a multipronged approach, that combines the different facets of plastic waste management and reduction can yield the best results. We, at My City Links, hope that our readers will take cognizance of the issue and do their bit for a plastic-free planet.