India Becomes First Asian Country To Launch Plastics Pact With WWF India & CII

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The India Plastics Pact was officially launched at the annual sustainability summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
It was launched on September 3, 2021 with an aim to move towards a circular plastic system.
India is the first Asian country to develop a plastic pact.

Concern

India generates 9.47 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, of which 40 per cent goes uncollected. 43 per cent of all plastics produced in the country are used for packaging, most of which is single-use.
Mismanagement of more than 7.7 billion metric tonnes of plastic waste globally over the next 20 years is expected, which is equivalent to 16-times the weight of the human population.
Among the many applications of plastic, plastic packaging is the largest.
A 2019 report by the Center for International Environmental Law suggests that by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic could reach over 56 gigatonnes, 10-13% of the remaining carbon budget.

To tackle plastic pollution in the country,
Bringing together businesses from across the Indian plastics value chain to move towards a circular plastics system that aims to keep the material in the economy, and out of the environment.
It mentioned 17 businesses including major FMCG brands, manufacturers, retailers and recyclers who have committed with the pact as founding members. Nine businesses have joined as supporting organisations.
The pact provides for time-bound targets of reducing, innovating and re-imagining plastic packaging.
It aims to define a list of unnecessary or problematic plastic packaging & items and take measures to address these problems with the help of redesign and innovation, by 2030.

Under the pact, 100 per cent of plastic packaging will be made reusable or recyclable, 50 per cent of plastic packaging will be effectively recycled and 25 per cent average recycled content will be made across all plastic packaging.

As many as 27 business houses and supporting organizations have willingly joined the Plastic Pact.
The list includes major FMCG brands, various manufacturers including Tata, consumer products companies like Amazon, Hindustan Unilever, Coca Cola India, Goderej, Marico and ITC.

The circular economy represents an alternative, more sustainable model to the traditional linear economy.
A linear model follows the path of make, use, then dispose.
In a circular economy, we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of their service life.
As a result, a circular economy also offers a way to improve Europe’s competitiveness and resource efficiency.