There is no doubt, India is full of multiple resources. It could have been wealthier than all other developed countries. The problems are the cheap availability of resources and lower labour costs. They are the main reasons behind this large scale production in India and plastic plays an important role here.
Do you ever think that where does the plastic waste go? It became a “Use it once and throw it away” type of material for a very long time. People buy a bottle of water, cold drinks, or a packet of chips and they often throw the empty bottles and packets on the road. It is a very familiar scenario in India. People do not bother to put the debris into the garbage boxes every time. They are always in a hurry and put the plastic waste behind. They think the trash collector would pick the waste and it will eventually end up in any dump area.
But this is not true. The waste moves away by air and rainwater. It will end up floating into water bodies like ponds, rivers and oceans. In fact, many cities directly dump garbage in the oceans. There are five garbage patches all over the world- 1) South Pacific, 2) North Atlantic, 3) South Atlantic, 4) Indian and 5) North Pacific. Plastic islands are formed from plastic debris on these five oceans. Among these, the Great Pacific garbage patch is the largest garbage patch in the world, located in between California and Hawaii. The garbage patch is not clearly visible. It cannot be scanned by satellites. Because the garbage patch is made of microplastics that can’t be seen in naked eyes. The microplastics are floating throughout the area. A ship can even pass through the barely visible plastic island.
Microplastics not only pollute the water but also disturb the marine balance. Marine fishes and animals accidentally take the micro materials as food. If there is any large plastic material floating into the water, animals get stuck with it. Planktons and coral reefs are becoming less in numbers because the microplastics ruin their source of nutrition.
If the ocean clean-up project starts efficiently from today, it will take a minimum of 20 to 30 years to remove the garbage patch. But there are countless plastic islands floating here and there in the mid of oceans. It is not just about The Great Pacific garbage patch. So, what should we do to stop forming plastic debris in the ocean?
We can take bio-degradable and eco-friendly materials as an alternative to plastic. But is it really a prolific solution? If we can use plastic wastes as trading materials and recycle them for a better purpose, it would be great for big tech companies and also for consumers all over the world.
Ecoex has come up with the idea where they provide a digital platform to producers, recyclers and manufacturers of giant companies all over India. As the leading Plastic EPR company, they can sell or purchase plastic waste through their plastic credit system. Ecoex helps India turn into a plastic neutral country.
