Page 72 - CIJ May 2023 Digital Edition

Vi w Point

Banning plastics is not a solution

By Sunil Panwar, CEO, Symphony Environmental India

ccording to the United absorbs water. The substance reducing the cost burden,
Nations Environment left behind is nothing more than technical hassle and risk factor on
Programme (UNEP) biomass, water and carbon dioxide the local plastic manufacturers.
report, about 85% (in very small quantities). The producer, who uses this
Aof plastics turn into approved additive, can get
unregulated waste reaching oceans Validation certified.
and landfills, and only 10% of
plastics ever produced globally d2w technology has been tested The cost of testing is anywhere
have ever been recycled. Banning as per ASTM D6954 standard at a between ₹4.5-5.5 lakhs, leaving
plastics is not a solution. The BIS accredited laboratory in India. them in a two year-plus limbo of
answer today comes in designing Testing is underway as per IS uncertainty without provisional
and producing a better version of 17899 T:2022, which is a tentative manufacturing reliefs. To
biodegradable plastics. provision issued by BIS in June ameliorate the situation, an
2022. Other tests are in process.
alternate criterion for reducing
One such technology, d2w, biodegradability test duration or
uses pro-degradant in the form of It is also pertinent to state adopting an existing global test
masterbatch which is added 1% that BIS IS 17899 T:2022 is standard like ASTM D6954 exists.
a tentative standard and was
by weight while manufacturing urgently brought out without
plastic packaging materials, using complete reviews. BIS may
the existing production processes. adopt an established global test Why plastic?
These modern plastics with d2W standard like ASTM D6954 until India has more than 150,000
additives remain 100% recyclable. they finalise their own standard to plastic manufacturing units. Out
However, if the packaging offer manufacturers provisional of this, about 1,30,253 plastic
material ends up becoming certificates. Interestingly, ASTM manufacturing units come under
single-use plastic, the packaging D6954 standard already considers the MSME sector, which employ
material biodegrades in less than factors like molecular weight nearly 16 lakh workers.
two years. At the end of the useful reduction to 5,000 Da and a 95%
life of the packaging material, loss in mechanical properties
the d2W additive turns material in abiotic degradation
into CO2, water and biomass. and seeks only 60%
This degradation process is not biodegradation.
as simple as fragmentation or
disintegration but goes beyond.
Ground
Post-degradation reality

The product changes from The
a long chain polymer of high number of
molecular weight into low producers
molecular weight monomers of plastic
or oligomeric fragments and packaging
oxygen-containing molecules. materials are
It subsequently becomes very large
bio-assimilation food for and additive
microorganisms like naturally suppliers are
present bacteria and fungi in few. Therefore,
the supplier of
soil or aquatic environments. At biodegradable
that stage, it is no longer plastic additives can be
and has become an inherently certified by CPCB,
biodegradable material and

MAY 2023•Clean India Journal
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