Ban on plastic: Environment vs. Economy

गोब्राह्मणेभ्यः शुभमस्तु नित्यं लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु॥

Meaning:- May there be well-being of people. May its rulers guard and foster the earth in a befitting manner. May there always be prosperity for cattle and scholars. May all the people be happy.

Plastic manufactured to support mankind,

Now it has captured mother nature heart and mind,,

Plastics are utmost important for economy,

Because nowadays quality life is superimposed by wealth and money,,

Science leads to discoveries and inefficient utttilization turns inventions into miseries. Thus,

banning plastics is a boon for the environment, it will be a bane for the economy. It takes 500-1000 years for plastic to decompose and hence it is a permanent havoc causing planet to plastic wrapped planet. Plastics are composed of long-chain polymers of carbon and are developed from mostly petroleum products. Plastics have became essential ingredients of daily routine and imaging life activities without plastic is very difficult whereas it's impact on flora and fauna has been raising concern across the planet. Plastics has been using at all spheres of life i.e. basic amenities roti, kapda, makan.. ranging from single use plastics, packaging, alternative to almost all materials, sanitary appliances, man made fabrics like polyester, nylon etc., construction works and usage list goes on. Elevating our dependency on the plastics had an adverse effect on the nature and because of plastics our beautiful planet is wrapping entirely around the layers of plastics. 

Why mother nature is pleading to cease using Plastics -

1. Very Longer Life span of Plastics - it takes thousands of years for the decomposition and is almost never degradable pollutant. It can be decomposed if certain bacteria break down a cellular structure and eats up the polymer completely. But the structure of plastics is not naturally occurring and thus organisms have not yet been evolved to be able to utilise its chemical composition and thus cannot be decomposed naturally.

 2. Reusing and Disposal of Plastics are even more severe - Plastics are tough to dispose off and then question arises where all such used plastics gets dumped. Whole plastic either discarded to the landfills causing heaps of plastics or burning of plastics that results in releasing of obnoxious gases to the environment that are extremely harmful and causes air pollution. If it is left around on soil, it prevents seepage of water into the ground, providing breeding grounds for all sorts of disease-causing germs. If it is disposed off in water bodies, it eventually makes its way into the oceans where it affects the survival of marine organisms.

3. Imbalances the ecology and ecosystem - More than one million marine animals and birds are killed annually due to plastic wastes directly or indirectly. Autopsies of dead fishes and birds have shown all forms of waste material being accumulated in their intestines. Every where we look, we see plastics. This over reliance on plastics has led to excess of it in dumpsters and landfills. Many plastic related toxins have also been found in humans. Polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, is widely known as the most toxic plastic for health and the environment. In its production, it releases dioxins, phthalates, vinyl chloride, ethylene dichloride, lead, cadmium and other toxic chemicals. Further, plastics have been proven to be carcinogenic (cancer causing), mutagenic (mutation inducing) or toxic. 

How Amicable are Plastics with our economy - 

1. Logistics, Transportation and Packaging - plastics offer tremendous scope for the cheapest and easiest packaging of fragile and expensive items. Currently, plastics are irreplaceable for the transportation of heavy and important items. Zomato, swiggy are easily transporting the food meals that can't be done without plastics in such cheaper price range. There are numerous spheres of logistics where till date none material can match the benefits of plastics. If plastics banned then sooner or later this will impact e-commerce very badly. Especially paper bags and paper packaging can be damaged easily thus compromising the safety of goods being packed.Packed food items or eatables that is food industry emerging and supporting agriculture sector will soon be declined if packaging costs has been increased. Thus, the ban on plastics will not only affect the plastic industry but other industries as well. The product cost elevates if cost of packaging increased. 

2. Not using Plastics consequences the price rise of products - plastics offer magnificent replacement to any material at much affordable price. Middle class people are best benefitted Like wooden chairs are replaced by plastic chairs, expensive children toys are available with cheap plastic toys, stainless steel bottles are quite expensive so plastic bottles are much in fashion and such usages goes on. 

3.  Impact on Trade - The global market for plastic products is growing at about 3% per year, according to the research report by The Business Research Company Plastics Product Manufacturing Global Market 2017. It was worth $1.1 trillion in 2016, and is set to grow to $1.2 trillion by 2020. Banning plastics will bring down a multibillion-dollar industry and thus cause a catastrophic effect on the economy and subsequently the share market. 

Better Initiatives for Better Results - The situation calls for a developing better substitutes that can replace plastics keeping in view all the challenges. Some measures can be imbibed to create a balance between environment and economy

1. On personal front, minimise the usage of single use of plastics. Acting as a socially responsible citizen and using less of plastics bags, straws, spoons, glasses etc can bring a positive change. Like wise Zomato, swiggy has saved millions of plastic crockery by turning auto no on demanding crockery while ordering the food thus customer misses particular to tick for plastic crockery. Myntra, Meeshu has started using paper bags for online dresses parcels an good initiative to decrease plastic bag usages.

2. Developing some eco friendly plastic like 

Polylactic Acid which is formed from corn and degrades within 47 to 90 days. Although not much stronger as petroleum-based oxo-biodegradable plastic yet can serve the purpose of better replacement in many cases. 

3. Various global initiatives have been taken to tackle the problem of plastic waste solution. One of these is the Clean Seas Campaign started by the United Nations and is being supported by several sports events in form of sailing, yachting and surfing to raise awareness.

4. More emphasis on 3R - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle ♻️ and upcycle also if can be the possibility. Government and public in collaboration has to work to bring this increasing menance to an end.