India has become the world's largest plastic polluter, accounting for almost 1/5 of global plastic emissions
According to the Reference News "India Today" weekly on June 23, India has now become the world's largest plastic polluter
Research shows that India emits 9.3 million tons of plastic waste each year, accounting for 20% of global plastic waste emissions. India's plastic industry is huge, but the recycling rate is only 12%, another 20% is incinerated, and about 70% of plastic waste is unknown and may end up in landfills or roadsides.
The non-biodegradability of plastics has made it a global environmental problem. The Indian government has introduced measures to reduce the use of plastics, but it faces many challenges in implementation, including poor supervision, an immature market for alternatives, and insufficient public awareness.
A 2018 survey showed that India accounted for 14 of the world's 15 most polluted cities. India has developed rapidly in the past 20 years, but at the cost of increasing pollution. Due to severe air pollution, India has even been called the most dangerous country in the world to breathe. Plastic pollution is another important issue. Agence France-Presse called India "a hell full of plastics."
In 2009, India's capital New Delhi began to ban plastic bottles, which was later extended to all plastic products. In 2022, India began to completely ban the manufacture, storage, import, sale and use of disposable plastic products. However, such bans are rarely enforced. Plastic products are still used to transport vegetables or for restaurant takeout. Residents living in slums are accustomed to this and even think it is destined because they are too poor and have no choice.
Last year, a paper published in the internationally renowned academic journal Nature stated that plastic pollution is an urgent global challenge due to its persistence in the environment and its negative impact on ecosystems and society. The results also showed that plastic pollution emissions are highest in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. India is the largest emitter of plastic waste.
Researchers have established and published a comprehensive list of large-scale plastic pollution at the city scale, revealing the distribution of plastic waste pollution hotspots in more than 50,000 cities around the world, where these plastics come from and where they end up. Based on the results of the study, the authors estimate that 52.1 million tonnes of large plastics are released into the environment each year, with approximately 57% being burned in the open air and 43% being unburned debris. Discarded garbage is the largest source of plastic pollution in the Northern Hemisphere, while uncollected waste is the main source in the Southern Hemisphere.
