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India the first Asian country to launch a plastics pact

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Environment
  • Published
    6th Sep, 2021

In a major achievement, India has become the first Asian country to launch a Plastics Pact.

Context

In a major achievement, India has become the first Asian country to launch a Plastics Pact.

About plastic Pact

  • World-Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF India) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have joined hands to develop a platform to promote a circular system for plastics. 

    • The new platform is called the ‘India Plastic Pact.

  • The pact will bring together prominent enterprises on a national level to make pledges toward the creation of a circular plastics system.
  • The pact works to create a world where Plastic is respected and does not contaminate the environment.
  • The pact aims to keep plastic packaging in the economy and out of the natural environment.
  • Supporting organisation: The statement mentioned 17 businesses, including major FMCG brands, manufacturers, retailers and recyclers have committed to the pact as founding members, and nine have joined as supporting organisations.
  • The pact, like similar one, has time-bound targets for reducing, innovating and re-imagining plastic packaging.

Status of plastic waste in India

  • 3 million tons of Indian waste was recovered in 2018-19.
  • This translates to about 9,200 tons per day (TPD). The total amount of municipal waste is 55-65 million tons; plastic waste is about 5-6 percent of the solid waste generated in the country.
  • Only 9% of recycled plastic waste. About 12% burned, while 79% accumulated in landfills.
  • According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), at least eight million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year.
  • Only nine percent of the plastic trash produced between 1950 and 2015 was reused worldwide, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and others.

India Plastics Pact's targets 

  • The India Plastics Pact's targets to be achieved by 2030.
    • A list of unnecessary or problematic plastic packaging and items and take measures to address them through redesign and innovation. 
  • 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable or recyclable. 
  • 50% of plastic packaging to be effectively recycled and 25% average recycled content across all plastic packaging.

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