Context: A U.K.-based startup, based at Imperial College in London, claims to have developed a technology that could alter the state of plastics and make them biodegradable. The company calls the process “biotransformation”.
About Biotransformation technology:
- Biotransformation technology is a novel approach to ensure plastics that escape refuse streams are processed efficiently and broken down.
- Plastics made using this technology are given a pre-programmed time during which the manufactured material looks and feels like conventional plastics without compromising on quality.
- Once the product expires and is exposed to the external environment, it self-destructs and biotransforms into bioavailable wax. This wax is then consumed by microorganisms, converting waste into water, CO2, and biomass.
- The technology is the world’s first that ensures polyolefins fully biodegrade in an open environment causing no microplastics.
Need for the technology:
- As per the latest estimates, India is generating 3.5 billion kgs of plastic waste annually and the per capita plastic waste generation has doubled in the past five years. Of this, a third comes from packaging waste.
- In 2019, plastic packaging waste from e-commerce firms was estimated at over a billion kilograms worldwide.
- E-commerce giant Amazon generated an estimated 321 million kgs of plastic from packaging waste in 2021 alone.
- Up to 10 million kgs of Amazon’s plastic packaging ended up in the world’s freshwater and marine ecosystems as pollution in 2019 alone.
Uses of the technology:
- Food packaging and healthcare industries could greatly benefit from such an innovation.
- Within healthcare and pharma industries, this technology provides biodegradable solutions for non-woven hygiene products like diapers, sanitary napkins, facial pads, etc.
- The increase in the cost of integrating this technology is relatively small compared to conventional plastic which does not contain this technology.
Government Initiatives in this regard:
The Indian government has launched multiple initiatives to move the country towards sustainability, including-
- In 2022, the Central government imposed a ban on single-use plastics to bring a stop to their use in the country.
- Introduction of a plastic waste management gazette to help tackle the ever-growing plastic pollution caused by single-use plastics.
- National Dashboard on Elimination of Single-Use Plastic and Plastic Waste Management brings all stakeholders together to track the progress made in eliminating single-use plastic and effectively managing such waste.
- Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) portal helps in improving accountability traceability and facilitating ease of compliance reporting concerning EPR obligations of the producers, importers and brand-owners.
- India has also developed a mobile app to report single-use plastics grievances to check the sale, usage or manufacturing of single-use plastics in their area.
Alternatives to reducing plastic waste:
- The alternatives to single-use plastics could be made using jute, coir, bagasse, rice and wheat bran, plant and agricultural residue, banana and areca leaves, jute and cloth.