Plastic Ban and Waste Management

The recent Plastic Ban (on carry bags less than 30 microns) by the Government of Kerala has evoked a mized response from the general public and traders. During my recent visit to Ekm, I thought that the ban was effective. When I went to a medical shop and bought some stuff including a packet of chips, the guy packed evrything in a paper bag and tied it with thread before giving it to me. But, more than a month later, there are reports say that all is not well. The report says several things, and stresses on lack of instruments to measure whether the bag is below 30 microns; and seems to suggest that some inspectors use the unavailability of instruments to ask for bribe. But, on the whole, the ban in Kerala seems to be much more effective than the one in Maharashtra in 2005 although efforts to beat the ban with an extra micron is not totally ineffective. A year after the Maharashtra ban, the media largely suggested that the ban was ineffective and that it even had negative consequences. Although there is a HC stay on the ban on plastic bags between 30 and 50 microns, the government is exploring methods to expand the ban to the 50 micron limit. This suggests that the ban is here to stay. A detailed report on the status of plastic waste management in India is available at the Central Pollution Control Board's Website.



To effectively get the ban to the masses and to ensure that the ban achieves the desired results, the government has to answer the following simple questions:

1. Why only plastic carry bags? Why not other plastic items?



2. What is the logic behind banning bags below a specific micron limit?



3. Is there no effective way of recycling plastic waste? Cant we explore better recycling rather than banning plastic bags as they are very useful to the common man?

I am not sure whether the government has answered these questions effectively, and whether the media has played its part in getting the answers to the masses. I talked to some people while at Alappuzha, and none of them seem to understand the answer to the second question. And the third question, many people have taken for granted that plastic waste cannot be recycled effectively. I devote this post to aggregate various kinds of answers for the above questions.

(1). Other plastic items are as difficult to manage because of the not-easy-degradability. Such items include plastic tins and boxes too. Wikipedia says, "Plastics are durable and degrade very slowly. In some cases, burning plastic can release toxic fumes. Also, the manufacturing of plastics often creates large quantities of chemical pollutants." But, carrybags are considered to be a major problem because they rarely get reused and clog drains (This was the specific reason cited for the Maharashtra ban on plastics).

(2). As the problem with plastic bags is that of less reuse, one natural solution to the problem is to increase reuse. Thus, allowing usage of only thick plastic bags is naturally expected to enhance reuse.

(3). Now, the big question. Don't we have the technology to recycle plastics effectively? Or don't we have the technology to create degradable plastics? Although most people believe that the answer is "no", there are strong clues on the net which say that the answer is "yes". The rest of this post is devoted to summarizing the content on the web and from elsewhere about what alternative measures of plastic manufacturing and plastic waste management.

Novel Methods on Plastic Manufacturing and Plastic Waste Management

A. BioPlastics - Unlike the traditional plastics which are manufactured from petroleum, bioplastics are derived from plant sources such as hemp oil, soy bean oil and corn starch rather than traditional plastics which are derived from petroleum. This is generally regarded as a more sustainable activity, because it relies less on fossil fuel as a carbon source and also introduces less, net-new greenhouse emissions if it biodegrades. The Wikipedia article goes on to say "Because of their biological biodegradability, the use of bioplastics is especially popular in the packaging sector. The use of bioplastics for shopping bags is already very common. After their initial use they can be reused as bags for organic waste and then be composted. Trays and containers for fruit, vegetables, eggs and meat, bottles for soft drinks and dairy products and blister foils for fruit and vegetables are also already widely manufactured from bioplastics". I am not sure why bioplastics are not popular here. I must confess that I dont know whether bioplastics were "tried and tested" in our environment though.

B. Plastic Recycling - Alka Zadgaonkar: Alka Zadgaonkar claims that her's is the "world's first continuous process for all manner of waste plastics". Infact, although this seems like somebody's imagination, they have already implemented the technology. The article goes on to say "Alka and her husband Umesh, are buying in 5 tonnes of plastic waste everyday in Nagpur at prices attractive to rag pickers. They are making money right now, and are about to scale up and buy in 25 tonnes of plastic waste a day. That production too is booked. As Nagpur generates only 35 TPD of plastic waste, they will shortly run out of raw material to grow bigger." It is unfortunate that we, in Kerala, who claim to be very forward looking, are hardly paying attention to such efforts and to study how we can replicate such efforts in our own environment.

C. Plastic Recycling - Dr. RK Raina: An institute in Delhi has been conducting extensive research on plastic waste recycling and converting plastics to solid waste. Dr R K Raina says : ‘What we have done is to explore ways to improve upon the properties of plastic as fuel. We prepared different types of fuels by simply adding wastes like sawdust, waste paper, leaf, and coal dust. All the blended fuels showed marked improvements in ease of burning. This is because wastes help to increase the porosity of plastic that traps oxygen, helping it to burn’. A report says "The end product is a readily saleable fuel brick. The Institute says the process is so simple that villagers can recycle plastics by mixing them with bio wastes at 110 deg. C. and earn sizeable incomes".

D. Plastic Recycling - Jim Garthe: Jim Garthe, a professional engineer at Penn State University, has developed a technology to convert plastics to plastofuel nuggets. The report says: "About 9 years ago, he built a small table-top machine which would compact rudimentarily shred mixed plastic waste and extrude them into well compacted sausages. These are then sliced by a hot knife into 'Plastofuel' nuggets. The nuggets may then be stored forever and transported economically. Sizable markets are emerging for Plastofuel and other plastic derived fuels [PDF]. Cement and steel majors are conducting trials using plastic waste as fuel adjunct, with a view to reduce energy costs. Cement giant LaFarge North America, Pa has begun trial burning waste plastic as a fuel supplement. These trials are being conducted with a close eye on emissions. The company is keeping local people informed and involved ".

E. Plastic Waste for Laying Roads: There have been multiple efforts within India to use plastics for laying roads. I remember having seen a report on Indiavision or Manorama News which reported that the local people were satisfied with plastic roads in the area where it was tried out. The reporter said "Plastic Road ivdem vareyaanu lay cheythittullathu. Plastic Road ivde theerunnu, kundum kuzhiyum ivde muthal thudangunnu". Although I cannot find a link for the article, it seems that the plan reported earlier has materialized. Plastic roads have been tested elsewhere in TamilNadu too. An article which talks about the technology aspect says "One promising solution tp the problem is from Prof. R Vasudevan of Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai. He thought up the idea of shredding plastic waste, mixing it with bitumen and using the polymerised mix in road construction. Chennai Corporation reacted with commendable speed. In Nov, 2002, it laid out a short stretch of road to test the idea. It has now declared itself satisfied with the trial. Chennai generates close to 150 tonnes of plastic waste everyday. If the Corporation buys, as it says it will, the plastic-waste-for-road-laying idea could be a win-win situation: better roads, money for the poor and cleaner environment. " Mr Ahmed Khan has achieved a lot of success using a similar technology.

The usage of plastics for laying roads has been utilized in Kerala too.

F. Street Lighting with Plastic Waste: There is a recent effort within our own state to explore BoT options of using plastic waste to operate street lights on a BoT basis, leaving considerable amount of the decision making process to the local governing bodies. The report says, "Kerala Builders Forum and Plastic Manufacturers Association have offered to set up a common plastic recycling facility in Kochi. ‘We’ll invest. And the revenue can be shared with Kudumbasree women self-help groups, who collect segregated houshold waste,’ says PJ Mathew, president of the association. ". This seems to be a very good step in this direction; lets hope it materializes.

G. Waste to EcoFriendly Products - Zero Waste Kovalam: The project on recycling waste at origin at Kovalam aims at recycling plastic bags and introducing more eco-friendly products. The solution for non-biodegradable includes creating Resource Recovery Parks. Although this project at Kovalam doesnt introduce any new technology, I include it as a separate bullet here as it has been widely cited.

H. Power Generation From Plastic Waste: Although it seems to be a very preliminary effort, the Local Administration Minister Paloli Muhammed Kutty recently hinted at plans on power generation from plastic waste. The report says "The State government is considering generation of electricity from plastic waste with German technical support. Talks are being held with two German companies, Local Administration Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty said." I am not sure whether there are plans to link this to the efforts by Sajidas on Biotech which won the Green Oscar Award.

I. Plastic To Floor Tiles: There has been a recent news report about converting plastic to floor tiles. This is about a person by name Joy, in Thrissur, who has developed a technology to convert plastic to cheap floor tiles. The article says "Everyday the solid waste innovator from Thrissur collects plastic bags from a garbage dump, shreds them, and through a combination of simple procedures, uses them to make floor tiles. " Another report on the same person appears here. Such tiles cost just 12 Rs. as against Rs. 30 - which is the manufacturing cost for cement tiles.

Although the list above is - by no means - comprehensive, I hope that this list would serve to give a glimpse of plastic waste management efforts.

It may be noted that there are good avenues to display research efforts and results in the direction of plastic waste management. PlastIndia is a conference to be held in 2009 at New Delhi. Further, there was a recent conference focussed on plastic recycling early in 2007 also in India.