Plastic had become a part of our lives; it has secured its place everywhere in different forms like grocery polythene, coffee lids, water bottles to take out containers. China is the biggest importer of plastic in the world. Its primary sources are Japan, the UK, the USA, and Germany.
Plastic has undoubtedly many advantages like being cost-effective, easy to purchase, water-proof, comes handy. At the same time, if you look at the other side of the coin, you will understand how problematic plastic is.
Suppose you bought a plastic water bottle and threw it after your use. Now, the plastic bottle is put up in a landfill to degrade & the study shows that a single plastic water bottle takes 450 years to decompose, and you can imagine the situation now. That’s why we have to be very careful when choosing the plastic-type, such as avoiding using single-use plastics, making cloth shopping bags, buying food in bulk, etc.
But let’s get honest here we can’t ignore or cut down plastic totally from our lives. That’s why the authorities have come up with a practical solution to deal with plastic waste & that is Plastic Waste Management Programme (2018-2024). The program is the initiative to establish environmental-free plastic disposal methods.
Later in 2016, the government of India has introduced Plastic Extended Producer Responsibility
just like EPR E-Waste. Superficially, this law involved the trading of plastic waste between the producer & manufacturer or recycler.
How Plastic is traded into business?
The term EPR is the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and according to the EPR Plastic, it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to either dispose or recycle post-consumer products. Under this policy, the manufacturers get financial support & plastic producer must give proof of the same amount of recycled plastic produced as waste. So, in the end, he can earn the plastic credit points.
Generally, the manufacturers recycle the waste plastic to convert it into a usable product. So, it will be sold at a lesser price in the market compared to the fresh products.
Is EPR Plastic Sustainable?
The answer is a big ‘yes’ that EPR for plastic waste is sustainable for the following reasons.
It brings the plastic product to its end.
- It reduces the headache of management of plastic waste to the industrialist. Since EPR is trading between the producer & manufacturer, so, it is must serve profit to both sides.
- The prime principle of EPR compliance is recycling, and it has many benefits, such as
- They are reducing the plastic from the environment by recycling & creating a re-usable product from it.
- Recycled products have a lesser retail price. It involves working local people as laborers, thus helpful in employing people and thus building the nation’s economy.
- Plastic EPR also generates the importance of recycling plastic and thus helping in creating a less hazardous environment for future generations.
Conclusion
We can’t neglect plastic from our lives, but the economic potential of the waste is much higher if traded legally. Plastic trading is not helping in reducing waste but also providing livelihood to people.
