New research published in the journal Nature has said that India is responsible for around one-fifth of global plastic emissions of around 9.3 million metric tonnes (Mt) per year.
The rate places India at the top of the emitters’ list, whereas the study places China, generally considered to be the greatest committer, fourth.
Plastic emissions includes materials that have moved from controlled systems for waste, however basic, managed or mismanaged, to the environment where they are under no control.
According to the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Leeds, plastic emissions are highest in southern Asian, sub-Saharan African, and southeast Asian countries.
It estimated Nigeria produces 3.5 Mt of plastics per year, ahead of Indonesia with 3.4 Mt/year and China with 2.8 Mt/year.
“Previous studies highlighted China as a high plastic polluter because they used much older data on the country’s waste management” researcher and study co-author Ed Cook told The Hindu. “However, in the last 15 years, China has improved its waste management substantially and is approaching a point where it has a comprehensive collection system. Remember that China is fast approaching high-income group status and more monetary resources than India.”
India’s plastic problem
India has emerged as one of the world’s largest plastic polluters for several reasons, according to Cook. “Firstly, there is a large and increasing population which is becoming more affluent. That means more and more waste, and the country has struggled to keep pace with providing waste management services. In a way this is a typical situation seen in other countries, but it is more pronounced in India because of the large number of people.”
Dumping sites in the country are home to uncontrolled land disposal and outnumber sanitary landfills 10 to 1. The country’s official waste generation rate, estimated to be 0.12 kg per capita per day, is possibly underestimated while waste collection is overestimated, the study noted.
While India claims to have a national waste collection coverage of around 95%, the study found evidence that official statistics don’t include rural areas, open burning of uncollected waste, and waste recycled by the informal sector.
Data used in the study indicates collection average of 81% for India.
Around 5.8 Mt of plastic solid waste is openly burned each year in India.
Other findings of the study
Researchers used machine learning to develop an inventory of macroplastics that pollute the environment from 50,702 municipalities based on five land-based sources: uncollected waste, littering, collection system, uncontrolled disposal, and rejects from sorting and reprocessing.
Around 69%, or 35.7 Mt, per year of the world’s plastic waste comes from 20 countries, four of which are low-income (LIC), nine are lower-middle-income (LMC), and seven are upper-middle-income (UMC), the study paper said.
High-income countries have higher plastic waste generation rates but none are ranked in the top 90 polluters, mostly due to 100% collection coverage and controlled disposal.
Despite lower plastic waste generation rates in LICs, LMCs, and UMCs, a large part of it is either uncollected or disposed of in dumping sites, contributing to uncontrolled disposal.
The study also reported more plastic waste is burned than is emitted as debris (physical particles larger than 5 mm) worldwide, which may have a significant impact on human health and ecosystems.
Shortcomings in local and national waste management systems are more evident on a per-capita basis. For example the study found China to be the world’s fourth-largest absolute emitter but 153rd on a per-capita basis. Similarly, India ranked 1 but 127th per capita. Russia on the other hand is the world’s fifth-largest absolute emitter but also has high per-capita emissions, reportedly due to low levels of controlled disposal.
In the Global South, uncollected waste is the largest contributor to plastic pollution. It accounts for 68% of all plastic waste emissions and 85% of all debris emissions, the study estimated. According to the researchers, no other global plastic pollution models explicitly identify uncollected waste as the main source of pollution. Mostly, this is clubbed with “mismanaged waste”.
In high-income countries, littering is the largest source of plastic emissions, accounting for 53% of debris emissions and 49% of all plastic emissions in the Global North.
Mismanagement of rejects from plastics sorting and recycling systems in both Global North and Global South adds around 1 Mt/year of plastic waste emission to the environment, thus showing that it is a comparatively small emissions burden even though it has previously been the focal point of research in the field.
Pointing a way forward
The study said it aimed to create a global inventory of macroplastic pollution at local levels to inform policies designed to reduce plastic emissions and to provide a global baseline for researchers monitoring emissions.
An inventory like this can prove critical to the success of the United Nations’ Plastics Treaty, a draft resolution that negotiators are hoping to turn into an international legally binding agreement by the end of this year. Once finalised, this agreement will aim to end plastic pollution.
The fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) to develop the agreement is scheduled to take place in Busan, South Korea, from November 25 to December 1, 2024.
Published – September 09, 2024 06:27 pm IST
