SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS
number of people grow. He said that either this demand will
be met by large-scale exports of this kind of plastic (which can
also be termed as good plastic) or in house production will
have to grow considerably. If the latter is to happen, a number
of new production units for plastic will have to be set-up in the
country and new technology will have to aid the manufacture
of the substance. “As I heard, the role of the private sector in
investing R&D seems to be not very appreciable,” said Rao. “In
fact, has been observed that around 70 to 75 per cent of the
research happening on plastic sustainability is being conducted
by the public sector,” he added.
Avinash Joshi, the managing director of ONGC Petro
Additions Limited, came up next to add to the topics that
Rao had spoken on. After the broad awareness on the
plastic industry, Pankaj Mehta, senior vice president of
Reliance industries, spoke about issues of sustainability. He
cited an interesting study which notes that if the real cost is
considered—which includes the environment cost—one finds
out that the environmental footprints of the alternatives to
plastic is much bigger than plastic itself. He also mentioned
that plastics have a role to play in the development goals made
by the UN for countries.
Vijay Merchant, the next speaker, is advisor to Indian
Centre for Plastics in the Environment (ICPE). He has been
working in various government policy-making efforts and has
taken part in recycling efforts of the plastic industry in India
as well as Asia. He cited the National Geographic magazine’s
observation on plastic which says that out of the plastic
produced since inception (8.3 billion tons approximately),
almost 6.3 billion tons was waste. Mr Merchant provided an
understanding of a global perspective around plastic. He spoke
of the challenges of plastic waste.
Mr Rajagopalan Vasudevan, who has been awarded a
Padma Shri for his efforts in sustainability by the Government
of India, came next to educate the audience about a
revolutionary process in waste management—the use of plastic
waste in making durable roads. Mr Vasudevan presented on
his pioneering work which is in making “Polymer blended
bitumen roads”, they are roads made of plastic waste in India.
“Plastic is not the villain, we are the problem,” said Vasudevan.
He said that a change in attitudes regarding the use of plastic
was essential. His solution is mixing the waste plastic in
bitumen after an initial process and laying roads out of the
mixture. Mr Vasudevan said, but only would this be a solution
to the plastic waste problem, it would also lead to better roads
since the plastic in the mixture enables cross-blending in the
road. The mixture gives you a waterproof road that is more
durable than an only-bitumen road. Giving an idea of the waste
plastic to road laying ration, Mr Vasudevan said that plastic the
Left Top to Bottom : Ms Richa Tyagi (WWF-India), Shri Haren Sanghavi
(Immediate Past President, Co-chairman environment committee AIPMA),
Shri S K Ray, (Hon. Secretary Member Executive committee, ICPE), Dr
Mahua Saha, (Senior Scientist COD) NIO, Ms Divya Tiwari CEO, SAAHAS,
Dr Sunil Kumar, NEERI, Ms Vidya Amarnath, Director Paterson Energy