98. The percentage of single-use plastics that are made from fossil fuels.
450. The number of years a single plastic bottle takes to degrade.
400 million tonnes. Plastic waste generated every year.
These are just some of the scary statistics as per data from the World Bank and World Economic Forum that confront us. Burgeoning landfills, harmful emissions, and oceans brimming with plastics are today’s reality. The future of the planet and its well-being now depends on how we use and reuse the resources we have.
18th of March is celebrated as Global Recycling Day, a reminder that you need to find other uses for what you so casually throw out. Your shampoo bottle. The packet you bought your rice or atta in. Milk cartons. Soda cans. Toothbrushes. Recycling everyday items could prevent more than 700 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Sruti Harihara Subramanian, filmmaker and Founder of Goli Soda Sustainable Solutions, believes that segregation, composting and recycling should not be a choice. Rather it should be a way of life for everyone. “The first step of recycling is the segregation of waste. You have to ensure that your wet waste is segregated from other materials such as paper or plastic, and put them in different bins. Ideally, from our end as consumers, it is also not okay to just segregate and toss these items into whichever bin. Wash the product, dry it, and only then put it into the recycle bin. Sometimes even the smallest amount of external material will prevent the recycling process. After all, when we segregate, we hope for the right supply chain, so that the bottle or carton we throw out reaches the right endpoint. We don’t want it to go into the landfill and stay there for years.”
But Sruti also cautions us that people who recycle believe they’ve done all they can for the environment, which is not the case at all. “Recycling is a waste management tool, but when it comes to energy conservation, water conservation, and other issues that we deal with, recycling may not be the answer. Think about it, we usually go in this order - ‘Reduce. Reuse. Recycle’. Of course, there are tools like upcycling that can be considered before recycling as well! Long story short, recycling must be the last stage or option for most waste management. ‘Reduce’ is the best option, because eventually when you do use a product, it goes into the recycling stage. Then, there is a huge amount of energy and water that is involved. Let’s start by considering plastic PET bottles. These go through multiple collection points, and in most cases, they’re not processed for recycling in the country of their origin. So large amounts of PET bottles are shipped to countries like China. Then, a huge amount of water is used to clean them, and a huge amount of energy is used to break down these bottles into smaller materials. Finally, large amounts of chemicals, energy, and water are used to change the constitution of the bottle into something else – let’s say, a toy. So usually when we recycle, we are downcycling. Beyond a certain point, the recycled plastic cannot be recycled further. Very rarely, can a particular product be recycled multiple times, wherein the quality of the recycled material is equivalent to the original quality of the first product. Recycled plastic is usually very low-grade. On Global Recycling Day, this message is not to discourage you, but to be aware of what goes into recycling so that you make an active choice to first reduce consumption.”
The World Economic Forum says that 36 per cent of plastic produced in 2022 was used to create packaging, 85 per cent of which ended up in landfills. Plastic is a hot-button topic now, with alternatives being discussed, as well as which kinds of plastics are actually permissible for use. The demand for ‘truth in labelling’ as far as packaging goes, will also enable consumers to make smart decisions on what to purchase, what can be reused and recycled, and what has to be ignored.
“The other day, I walked past a grocery store, only to find banana bunches neatly wrapped in excessive amounts of cellophane paper. Don’t they have their own sturdy skins? I found it so ridiculous and wasteful,” says Bharathi Shetty Mehta, a volunteer with three NGOs that focus on waste management. “Patronise businesses and retail outlets that are mindful of how and how much they package. That’s the first step as a consumer. Do your research and see who really walks the talk. Secondly, learn to say no - to that plastic bag you don’t need or fast fashion trends that you’re going to tire of in three months. It isn’t just plastics; aluminium, glass and even cardboard need to be disposed of properly and repurposed. Food waste is another of my peeves. Use your food waste for compost instead of just throwing it away. You may think it is biodegradable and therefore doesn’t really need to be dealt with, but contributes to harmful emissions while lying in the landfill. Of course, you need to segregate your waste. Wet, dry, biodegradable, non-biodegradable… proper treatment and disposal are key to keeping the recycling process efficient. E-waste is another area that requires attention, especially in India. A UN report suggests that we are the fifth largest producer of e-waste in the world, with 95 per cent being burned or dumped in landfills. Surprisingly, the heroes on this front are waste pickers, who don’t have any formal training secure livelihoods. They manage to pick up and recycle some of the e-waste that is generated, but we still have a long way to go.”
Although recycling is the last step in the waste management process, there is no denying that it is important, relevant and vital. After all, we live in a world where there is no dearth of takers for pretty, shiny things that come with a shelf-life. Recycling can help negate some of the impacts on the world’s landfills and oceans, taking us one step towards a healthier, better world.
After all, there is no Planet B.