Paper – cheaper, eco-friendly and easily accessible alternative to single use plastic: Study

NEW DELHI: A new study released at PAPEREX organised by Hyve India said that paper offer a more sustainable option and can capture a fourth of the Rs 80,000 crore single-use plastics market by 2025, if use of single-use plastic is totally banned by the government.

In India the single-use plastic industry is close to Rs 80,000 crore currently and is growing. Packaging industry constitutes for a third of India’s plastic consumption, and 70 per cent of packaged plastic is turned into garbage in a short duration. “While plastic is known to be a threat for all living organism, disposed single-use plastic bags and styrofoam can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. Paper, on the other hand is eco-friendly and bio-degradable”, the study said.

The study also pointed that a third of paper product used are manufactured from recycled paper and an equivalent amount from waste such as scrape and sawdust from lumber mills.

The report further said that in India, companies use 46 per cent raw material from recovered paper, 29 per cent from agro residue like bagasse, straw etc. and 29 per cent from plantation wood.

As per the study, for production of one tonne of fresh paper about 2.1 tonne of wood is used. Such huge requirements are not fulfilled by cutting down forests but through social forestry plantation managed by the manufacturer or by farmers.

The report also said that cost of recycling plastic waste is between Rs 22 to 35 per kg, while recycling cost is Rs 32 per kg paper. Transportation cost of one tonne of paper costs Rs 4.5 per km as compared to Rs 6.2 in case of plastic.

J P Narain, VP, Indian Paper & Manufacturers Association and CEO of Century Paper said, the paper manufacturing industry is going through phase of transformation and now the industry uses less water and power for production. The cost of production of recycled paper is also 30 to 40 per cent cheaper depending upon the location. The requirement and demand of better quality paper based product is expected to drive the growth of paper products market in India in the coming years, he added.

The study said chips and confectionery packets account for the largest share of plastic waste in India – 19 per cent are chips and confectionery packets, 12 per cent of total plastic waste is bottle caps and lids, 10 per cent are pet bottles, 8 per cent from packaging and 8 per cent from garbage bags.