India’s Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2024

General Studies Paper -3

Context: The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has introduced a new set of amendments to India’s Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

About

• It defines biodegradable plastics as not only capable of degradation by biological processes in specific environments such as soil, landfill but also as materials that do not leave any microplastics.
• Rules specify that the makers of disposable plastic ware can label them as biodegradable only when they do not leave any microplastics behind.

Need for the Amendment

• Ambiguity:After the Union government banned single-use plastic in 2022, and recommended the adoption of biodegradable plastic, the question of what exactly constituted biodegradable plastic was unanswered.
• The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)refused to provide a ‘provisional certificate’ to licence the products as biodegradable because the CPCB only considers as biodegradable a plastic sample that has 90% degraded, and such a process takes at least two years. 

Biodegradable and Compostable Plastics

• Biodegradable plastic involves plastic goods being treated before they are sold.
  • When discarded, the material is expected to decompose naturally over time though there are no tests yet to determine if such plastics completely degrade.
• Compostable plastics, on the other hand, do degrade, but require industrial or large municipal waste management facilities to do so.
• Biodegradable plastic and compostable plastic are projected as the two broad kinds of technological fixes to India’s burgeoning problem of plastic waste pollution.

What is Plastic and Microplastics?

• The word plastic is derived from the Greek word plastikos, meaning “capable of being shaped or moulded.”
• Plastic refers to a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient with their defining quality being their plasticity – the ability of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation in response to applied forces.
  • This makes them extremely adaptable, capable of being shaped as per requirement.
• The basic building blocks of plastics are monomers, which are small molecules that can join together to form long chains called polymers through a process called polymerization. 
• Microplastics: Plastics break down into their smaller units called microplastics– officially defined as plastics less than five millimetres in diameter.
  • These microplastics find their way across the planet, from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the heights of the Himalayas.
  • According to the most recent global estimates, an average human consumes at least 50,000 microplastic particles annually due to contamination of the food chain, potable water, and air.

Environmental Concerns of Microplastics

• Marine Pollution: Microplastics enter oceans through various pathways, including direct disposal, runoff from land, and fragmentation of larger plastic debris.
  • Marine organisms such as fish, seabirds, and marine mammals ingest microplastics, leading to physical harm, blockages in digestive systems, and potential transfer of toxins up the food chain.
• Freshwater Contamination:Microplastics are also found in freshwater environments, such as rivers, lakes, and streams.
• Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification:Microplastics have the potential to accumulate in the tissues of organisms through processes like ingestion and adsorption.
  • As predators consume prey containing microplastics, these contaminants biomagnify, reaching higher concentrations in organisms at the top of the food chain, including humans.
• Habitat Degradation:Microplastics presence interfere with nutrient cycling, sediment stability, and the behavior of organisms.
  • In some cases, microplastics create microenvironments that favor the growth of harmful bacteria or invasive species, further disrupting ecosystem dynamics.
• Global Distribution:Microplastics have been detected in diverse environments worldwide, including remote and pristine locations far from major sources of plastic pollution.
  • Their global distribution highlights the pervasive nature of plastic contamination and underscores the need for coordinated international efforts to address this issue.

India’s Efforts In Tackling Plastic Waste

• Ban on single-use plastics:India has banned the production, use, and sale of single-use plastics such as bags, cups, plates, cutlery, and straws in many states.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR):The Indian government has implemented EPR, making plastic manufacturers responsible for managing and disposing of the waste generated by their products.
• Plastic Waste Management Rules:India introduced the Plastic Waste Management Rules in 2016, which provide a framework for managing plastic waste through various measures, including recycling and waste-to-energy initiatives.
• Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022: 
  • The guidelines on EPR(Extended Producer Responsibility) coupled with the prohibition of identified single-use plastic items.
  • It banned the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of carry bags made of virgin or recycled plastic less than seventy-five micrometers.
• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan:The Indian government launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a national cleanliness campaign, which includes the collection and disposal of plastic waste.
• Plastic Parks:Government has set up Plastic Parks, which are specialized industrial zones for recycling and processing plastic waste.
• Beach clean-up drives:The Indian government and various non-governmental organizations have organized beach clean-up drives to collect and dispose of plastic waste from beaches.
• India is a signatory to MARPOL (International Convention on Prevention of Marine Pollution).
• The “India Plastic Challenge – Hackathon 2021 
  • It is a unique competition calling upon start-ups /entrepreneurs and students of   Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to develop innovative solutions to mitigate plastic pollution and develop alternatives to single-use plastics.