Toxic Plastic & Sick Seas

Plastic is the most dangerous component piling on the planet, driving the cause of climate change, and it has now entered the sea ecosystem as well. According to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 80 per cent of the sea debris from surface water to deep sea sediments comprises of waste plastic.

Urban areas majorly contribute to this load of sea debris as 60 per cent of the plastic in marine debris is generated from urban areas, according to Plastic Smart Cities (WWF Forum). Plastic use has continuously increased, especially in the urban centres of India and the world in different forms. Its affects and by-products are continuously analysed by experts but the exact extent is still unknown.

Condition of India and surrounding seas

Plastic marine debris is mainly produced due to the mismanagement of produced plastic from waste and short-lived plastic products comprising of various consumer products. Ganges river in India is notorious for being the major contributor of plastic debris into the sea, as found by The CounterMEASURE Project, which was started in 2020 by the United Nations Environment Programme and is funded by Japan. The project, which is based in three cities namely Haridwar, Agra and Prayagraj, found that almost 10 to 25 per cent of plastic waste is littered, which eventually reaches the sea instead of being recycled or going through proper waste disposal channels. India is distressed from the problem of plastic litter, as is evident from data of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, which states that India accumulated 34 lakh tonnes of plastic waste in 2019-20, which is
10 lakh tonnes more as compared to 2017-18 data.
In order to phase out marine plastic from the environment, the Government of India signed an agreement with the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, in April this year. Moreover, India has also pledged to ban the use of single-use plastic from the beginning of 2022 under the new Draft Notification Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules 2021. However, these draft rules are being criticised by experts and environmentalists on the grounds that they have no clear instructions on recycling methodology. In line of this, various state governments such as Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, etc., have also banned single-use plastics, including those used in water bottles, tetra bottles, single-use straws, etc.

Global issue of marine debris

Everybody knows and wonders about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but countries are not serious or concerned that a second version of it is not formed in the coming future. In order to address the growing cause of marine litter and plastic pollution, the Governments of Ecuador, Germany, Ghana and Vietnam organised a ministerial conference and developed a draft of its statement in order to be sent to the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2), which is to be held in February 2022.
However, there is growing criticism for countries such as the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK), which have not given their nods to form a global pact on plastic pollution in seas. Moreover, US and UK are the two countries with the highest amount of per capita plastic waste production in the world. Whereas, two third member states of the UN, including African countries, Baltic areas, Caribbean, and Nordic and Pacific states, have agreed to consider a global framework to be functioning under the Paris Climate Accord. Non-biodegradable plastic litter is a growing concern and the world has to come together soon in order to tackle this menace.

Cities leading the change

As per the 2015 assessment report presented by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Indian cities produce 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste per day. However, several Indian states and places around the world have taken initiatives to decrease the usage of plastic. In India, according to CPCB’s statement to the National Green Tribunal in 2019, 18 Indian states had banned the use of plastic bags and products.
Cities around the world have joined this thought in which Plastic Smart Cities, which is a forum by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is holding hands of cities. In this, 15 Asian cities have pledged for a 30 per cent reduction is plastic usage by 2025 by way of improved waste management and adopting circular economy. In the Mediterranean region, Nice was the first city to take the initiative to curb plastic litter which was eventually accumulating in the Mediterranean Sea. Most recently, Izmir in Turkey and Dubrovnik and Trogir in Croatia have also joined hands with the initiative to supress plastic litter around regions of the Mediterranean Sea.
In addition to cities around the world, local governments of Indian urban cities have also presented example of circular economy by constructing roads out of plastic waste. Cities like Chennai, Indore, Jamshedpur, Pune, and most recently Lucknow, have taken the initiative of using plastic waste in the construction of roads.

Way forward

Marine litter is a growing menace and a challenge which needs to be addressed soon in order to save the planet from unforeseen consequences. According to United Nations Environment Programme, the quantity of plastic waste collected in a decade after 2000 was equal to the total waste generated in the last 40 years. It has percolated deep in the lifestyles of humans, which is why it is difficult and necessary to supress the dependency on plastic in our daily lives.
Unique habitats such as the mangrove forests of India have also been infected with this as 62 per cent of the debris found in the mangrove forests is composed of plastic litter, according to the Central Institute of Fisheries Education. The adoption of circular economy is also vital as plastic is a non-biodegradable commodity and even if we pull down its usage, the question remains as to what can be done about the plastic waste that is already existing?
The answer lies in innovating the ways where usage is inevitable at the designing phase itself and not at the end. Developing new technologies with less plastic, designing reusable plastic products, and efficient reprocessing can be some of the initial measures which manufacturers can adopt. Local governments and administration, on the other hand, have to bring in strict regulations on the use of plastic products.

Conclusion

India is taking initiatives to curb the amount of plastic litter entering the oceans both by ways of regulating it and finding new alternatives to it such as using nano technology for smart packaging with the help of water-resistant materials. Cities are at the centre of this menace as the urban centres around the globe are major contributors to marine debris. Various cities have also joined hands to fight this burgeoning crisis and it should be dealt at the earliest.
Conservation of seas and the marine habitat will help in achieving the targets under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14. Moreover, conserving natural habitats and nature is at the heart of SDG targets set by United Nations Organisation.
Abiding by the sustainable ways of growth is important for countries in order to preserve the civilisation from deadly consequences.