| FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON PLASTICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT |
| Q. 8. |
Does the burning of plastic generate toxic fumes? |
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NO.
To a large extent, post-consumer waste is made up of grocery or polyethylene bags. The chemical structure of polyethylene is made up only by carbon & hydrogen atoms. Anyone, who has done elementary chemistry will know that burning a carbon hydrogen molecular chain will generate carbon-dioxide and water vapour.
A product made from PVC, when burnt in an open fire will emit hydrogen chloride fumes which are pungent. In fact this property has a singnificant advantage in retarding propagation of a flame when used as a sheath in a
power cables. Normally a PVC product or a post consumer pack is extremely rare, in Municipal solid waste.
The toxic fumes which the public wrongly believe are generated from plastics, are the result of burning materials contained in the bag, to get ride of industrial wastes. |
| Q. 9. |
Are plastics harmful to plant growth, when buried in the soil? |
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NO.
The use of polythylene nursery bags for growing seedlings for plantation crops or for afforestation is an application which is widely previling all over the world. The thin polyethylene bag holding the soil and sapling is slit with a blade and covered by soil. This way the root zone of the young sapling is not disturbed. In the conventional method the sapling had to be uprooted from a bamboo wicker basket, which increased the mortality rate of the young sapling.
Plastics are inert and their presence under the soil has no affect on the soil chemistry or plant growth. |
| Q. 10. |
Should we change over from plastic to paper bags? |
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A decision should be made after considering these facts.
The wide spread belief that substitution of plastics with paper is more favourable to the environment, is not supported by facts and a L.C.A.
The manufacture of paper bags requires two-and-half times the energy as compared to plastic bags of the same size and for comparable performance.
The manufacture of paper produces singnificantly higher air pollutants. There is a huge disparity in waste water discharge in manufacture or recycling of paper.
As far as biodegradability is concerned, the University of Arizona study shows that newspapers burried in 1952 in land-fills and excavated in 1989, were legible. The same observation was made with telephone directories.
Some will argue that paper comes from trees which is a renewable resource; while plastic is manufactured from oil, which cannot be replaced. The argument against this is, that forests play an important role in protecting our soil bank and maintaining the gaseous balance in our atmosphere, by absorbing carbon dioxide and in turn releasing oxygen. In our hunger for wood, 44 million hectares of forests have been felled since Independence, making this country a land with one of the lowest areas under forest cover (area under forest to total land area). Therefore, as far as India is concerned land is not a renewable resource. |
| Q. 11. |
Do Plastics meet the criteria of resource conservation; - do we get "more for less" while using plastics packaging? |
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YES
Let us take the example of the humble plastic grocery bag whcih has been denigrated so extensively in the media. A stack of 2000 plastic grocery bags will be seven-and-half INCHES high; a stack of 2000 paper grocery bags will have a height of seven-and-half feet. Imagine what this means in terms of transportation, and the increase in exhaust emissions.
A study conducted by the "German Society for Reasearch in the Packaging Market", shows that if plastics packaging were replaced with other materials, the weight and volume of disposables would increase by a factor of 4 and 2.5 respectively, along with twice the level of energy consumption and double the cost of packaging.
Another good example is the transport of mineral water in light weight PET bottles. A truck can carry 60% more water with 80% less packaging, as compared to glass bottles; this results in fuel savings of almost 40%.
The ratio of product weight packed to the weight of package is the highest for plastics packaging; for example 500 gms of coffee can be packed in a glass jar weighing 500 gms, or a tin plate container weighing 130 gms, or a plastic laminated pouch weighing only 12 gms. Still better, one kg of salt is packed in a pouch weighing 5 gms where the ratio of product weight to package weight is 200:1. These are some examples of getting "more from less" through plastics packaging. |
| Q. 12. |
What about the role of plastics in improving the qualify of life? |
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According to a UNICEF report, in our Country an estimated 2500 children die every day of diarrhoeal diseases, caused by polluted drinking water and lack of sanitation. Those who survive, continue to suffer from water borne diseases and the country loses a staggering 1800 million man hours per year.
The target the country has set for itself, provides one safe source of drinking water per village. Such a difficult task would be impossible to achieve without the use of PVC pipe which is economical, light, easy to transport and install, but more significantly, uses 88% less energy in terms of "oil equivalent" in its production and use, for comparable performance with GI pipes.
The growth of personal products in the rural areas has increased dramatically. The growth of shampoos in bottles is at a level of approx. 2% year-on-year, whereas the growth is around 30% year-on-year for shampoos in flexible packaging and the small pack size, makes a product affordable to much larger section of the community and thereby promotes hygiene and personal care. |
| Q. 13. |
Who should take responsibility for the plastics environmental issue? |
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We all share the responsibility for environmental issues. Any issue which concerns and community, has to be resolved with the co-operation of all involved; it is a "shared responsibility". Those involved are Government, Municipalities, the raw material manufacturers, the retailers, and consumers.
Because domestic waste is a mixture of materials of which plastics is only a small component, under 2% by weight, it is the responsibility of government to manage waste and a regulate its disposal.
It is the responsibility of the plastics raw material and packaging manufacturers to come up with the most cost efficient solutions, which will preserve and protect goods, minimise the use of energy and reduce the weight and volume of waste. Food and personal product manufacturers, retailers and consumers need to be aware of the benefits of plastics pacakging and the need to dispose plastics in a manner which leads to increasing emphasis on recycling.
Everyone must understand that the environmental legacy we leave behind for future gnerations will depend on our resolve to :
REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE
And finally let us agree that:
PLASTICS DO NOT LITTER, PEOPLE DO.
A Presentation by The Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment
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