EcoWorldly

In the process of reconstructing the global economy especially after the G20 summit, where international trade protectionism was advised against, it would make sense to act in unison with respect to even conserving the environment and formulating common legislations on materials like plastic.

So why is it that the UK and Europe are looking at new initiatives to recycle plastic while developing countries (India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and even Rwanda) are looking to ban their use completely. Which is the more profitable and productive alternative?

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The Lyonsdown Media Group in London recently published a study called ‘The World of Plastics’ that was distributed by The Guardian as an independent supplement. The publication asserted that bio-plastics (plastics made not from oil but from a bio source) have potential and that there is no need to rush to condemn plastics without laying out an informed approach to recycling it efficiently. Colin Williamson, Director of the recycling firm Smile Plastics Ltd. in London explains that currently bio-plastics are not commercially competitive, but this could change as the oil traditional plastics are made from gets scarcer and more expensive in the future. He is also of the view that biodegradable plastic is a ‘stupid solution’ since there is a risk that it may be misplaced in the recycling process (especially when biodegradable plastic is made to look like ordinary plastic), which might ultimately lead to a whole batch being contaminated and put in a landfill.

Biodegradable plastics slowly degrade while giving off both CO2 and Methane; the latter being at least twice as damaging to global heating. In answer to this problem, public companies in the UK such as Symphony Environmental Technologies Plc have developed a low cost insurance against this form of pollution. It is a special formulation called d2w, included in the plastic, which can be reused (also see www.degradable.net). This form of plastic is called ‘oxo—biodegradable’. It makes plastic self-destruct in the presence of oxygen on land or water at the end of its service life. Until then, the plastic can just be reused.Thus, while normal plastic may just lie around on a landfill and biodegradable plastics may emit methane while decomposing, oxo-biodegradable plastics are made to degrade leaving no fragments and emitting no methane. Symphony claims that these can even be recycled with normal plastics or incinerated for energy recovery.

On 2 May 2009, i-plas, another UK based company reported that it has developed and launched a curbstone made from recycled plastic that can replace concrete, steel or wood as a more efficient and economical alternative to building materials. Managing Director of i-plas, Howard Waghorn said: “The recycled plastic curbstone is easier to install, is more practical and outperforms the concrete alternative, while environmentally there is no comparison.” Similarly, Nikolaos Vlasopoulos and Stuart Evans at the start up company Novacem claim to have developed a formula to make concrete that absorbs CO2 and which could also be recycled with plastic and glass if it should be torn down. They are still in the early stages with funding of £1m from Imperial Innovations so that they can successfully build a small industrial plant in Britain next year. It is encouraging to know that green pioneers are looking to work with plastic waste to convert them into construction material and exploring further potentials of plastics to transform electric goods.

At this stage in time it seems imperative to view plastics (as the British Plastics Federation does) as a vital (£19 bn) industry with £4.6bn exports and which employs 186,000 people in every parliamentary constituency in the UK. The plastics industry is reportedly even bigger than the automotive and pharmaceutical sectors combined (www.bpf.co.uk).

On the one hand retailers like Marks and Spencers in Britain launched its Plan A scheme to reduce waste by charging 5p for food bags. This, the retailer claims, has been a successful venture resulting in a decrease in the use of plastic bags from 460m (2007) to 80m (2008) as was reported by The Guardian (”Plastic bags hailed as a huge success”, 1 May, 2009). Similarly, Tesco and Sainsbury offer green points or loyalty points to their clubcard customers for every bag they reuse.

On the other hand, across the globe in developing countries such as India, New Delhi (Jan 7) is among the few who are banning the use, storage and sale of plastic bags all together, even with opposition from local NGO; The All India Plastic Industry Association (AIPA) filed a plea in a Delhi court for the withdrawal of the ban on plastic carry bags in the capital. The new guideline means that customers, shopkeepers, hoteliers and hospital staff face a 100,000 rupee fine (£1,370) and a possible jail sentence for using non-biodegradable bags. Although the government had originally concluded that plastic bags were too cheap and convenient to be disposed of, the authorities appear to have been swayed by environmentalists who pointed out that used bags were clogging drains and so providing breeding grounds for malaria and dengue fever.

Clearly then, there isn’t much knowledge transfer initiatives between countries to work together towards coming up with solutions for their common futures considering that banning plastics (that we actually use in our daily lives) may be bad for business. As the world shifts more toward a low carbon economy, now is the time for new debates to meet the challenges faced by not only the plastics industry, but also the governments, local authorities and consumers. I have hopes for the upcoming online forum www.plastics2020challenge.com that is to be launched in July 2009. It will only be a matter of time when global pioneers who believe plastics (and plastic wastes) are yet to reach their full potential, come together to implement a common consensus around the future of plastics in a global society.

Image credit: Egilshay via stock.xchang

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