The global Marine plastic Pollution footprint is estimated to be 8-10 million tonnes annually.
So a robust multipronged structured approach still remains the call of the hour.
What does this estimate reveal?
A rough estimate suggests that close to 150 million tonnes (mt) of plastics have already polluted our oceans.
Most of these plastics originate from land (i.e., it is not dumped into the ocean directly from vessels etc).
Plastic packaging accounts for more than 62% of all items (including non-plastics) collected in international coastal clean-up initiatives.
What is India’s position?
Currently, India is considered the twelfth-largest source of marine litter.
It is projected to become the fifth-largest by 2025.
The Ganga has been documented as one of the top-five rivers dumping plastics into oceans.
India consumes 16.5 mt of plastic annually, 43% of which was towards the manufacture of single-use plastic material.
What is the influence of the pandemic?
The Covid-19 outbreak has exacerbated this situation, with the pandemic demanding the use of PPE that are often discarded in unscientific ways.
[PPE - Personal Protective Equipment such as suits, masks and gloves]
With India generating 101 tonnes/ day of Covid-19-related biomedical waste, the need to handle this stream of waste has grown significantly.
How do plastics reach water bodies?
Mismanagement of plastic waste generated in coastal cities and urban centres are leading to this reaching the water bodies.
Land-based sources are the main cause (up to 80% of total marine debris) of marine plastic pollution.
The common leakage routes are litter accumulated and carried via open drains into rivers and water bodies.
Other upstream routes contributing to this cause include waste directly dumped into water bodies and waste from dump yards carried into local rivers or lakes.
What is the problem?
Single-use plastics are a common part of the political discourse.
But, the implementation of their phase-out has been marred by the lack of a common definition that could unite the states for this cause.
The definition assumes greater significance as it would impact multiple stakeholders, thereby, impacting the use of specific types of plastics.
The success of this transition would then also be governed by the availability of affordable alternatives to fill voids created.
The scarcity of India-specific data and action-oriented research makes it even more challenging for policymakers.
What could be done?
Addressing the ‘bulk of issue’ by curbing land-based sources of marine litter must be the initial focus.
Understanding this linkage would provide a holistic approach towards addressing the issue.
While phasing out of single-use plastics established a political consensus, a clear roadmap involving the cities needs to be drawn up.
This could begin with arriving at a common understanding and definition agreed upon internationally.
This understanding would need to trickle to the government tiers in the form of bye-law inclusions.
This in turn will guide the cities to phase out single-use plastics by 2022.
Institutional framework towards achieving the common goal would need to be chalked out and streamlined.
To address this issue, a robust multipronged structured approach still remains the call of the hour.
