Environmental Engineering Services
In 1950, a total of less than 2 million tons of plastics were manufactured globally, a tally that was estimated to have reached about 460 million tons in 2018. This consumption of plastics, according to some projections is likely to reach a humungous 1900 million tons by 2050!
The invention of plastic in the 20th century is one of the biggest turning points in the history of modern civilization. It is the material that acts as a substitute for various metals, glass and even ivory, providing a much better alternative, both economical and robust.
Touted as a wonder material, synthetic plastic has revolutionized the way people live.
Used for everything, from bags and bottles to electronic chips and parts of aircrafts, it is everywhere. Over the years, excessive use of plastic and lack of its management has led to it becoming a major contributor to the degradation of the environment. A serious cause of concern.
India Plastics Pact
The India Plastics Pact is a collaborative initiative of the CII and WWF India and has the distinction of being the first such pact of a country in Asia. The pact aims to bring businesses, governments, and NGOs together to set time-bound commitments for reducing the use of plastics across value chains. The driving thought behind the pact is to promote a circular economy for plastics with public-private collaborations that involve finding and adopting innovative ways to eliminate, reuse, or recycle plastic packaging across value chains.
India annually generates about 9.5 million tons of plastic waste, of which 40% is not collected for recycling.
About half of the plastic produced in the country is used in packaging with most of it being of ‘single-use’ in nature. Commitments made under this pact aim to keep plastic packaging in the economy and out of the environment.
This initiative seeks to transform the entire plastics value chain to remove unnecessary and problematic plastics, recycle or repurpose the same to create a circular economy. The vision, ambition and targets of the India Plastics Pact are aligned with the circular economy principles propagated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy.
The four targets under the India Plastics Pact are:
Define a list of unnecessary or problematic plastic packaging and items and take measures to address them through redesign and innovation
100% of plastic packaging to be reusable or recyclable
50% of plastic packaging to be effectively recycled
25% average recycled content across all plastic packaging
The pact aims to bring together a host of stakeholders across value chains to transform the current linear plastics system into a circular plastics economy by 2030.
G&B’s Action Plan
Godrej & Boyce announced their joining the India Plastic Pact as a founding member to strengthen the commitment of corporate India towards combating the growing menace of plastic pollution. Under the pact, Godrej & Boyce -
commits to continue offsetting by 100%, the quantity of packaging plastic used.
commits to increasing the coverage of Indian geographies for recycling plastics under the EPR program
commits to introducing and increasing recycled plastic content in packaging plastic usage by 2030.
Speaking at the launch of the India Plastics Pact, Jamshyd N Godrej, Chairman and Managing Director, Godrej & Boyce and Past President CII, said, “Innovation, collaboration and voluntary commitments contextualised for India and led by Indian companies will help the transition to a circular economy for plastics. The Plastics Pact model offers this solution. While this pact is already active in several countries, I commend the CII and WWF India for bringing this initiative to India".
Delivering Value
At Godrej & Boyce, we have been at the forefront of promoting, developing, and implementing a robust plastic waste management Ecosystem in India. Proactively approaching the plastic waste, Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR), G&B started its implementation in FY 2018-19 with its scope spread across four states. Going beyond the regulatory mandates, G&B had proactively transitioned to meet its EPR obligations in over 26 states & UTs in FY 20-21, adopting the following methodology for EPR implementation -
Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) are independent agencies who channelise plastic waste into approved recycled agencies on behalf of G&B.
Agreements are entered with each PRO, and it is ensured that all clauses mentioned therein are followed adequately.
State-wise targets are assigned to each PRO and EPR details are obtained from the said PRO at the end of each quarter
To ensure transparency, traceability, and accountability, third party audits are done at recycling and collection centres of PROs.
At an organisational level, G & B has a digital platform for easy accessibility, where all EPR documents are available for viewing at the PRO’s website.
Finally, the actual plastic consumption data is extracted from Software for Sustainability Reporting SOFi on a quarterly basis and a report is submitted to the Central Pollution Control Board.
Results
Our efforts have resulted in a consistent increase in the achievement of EPR targets with G&B owning the responsibility for 3200 MT (baseline consumption projected on past trends) of the plastic and packaging waste per year, effectively offsetting more than 100% of its EPR responsibility. G&B has now scaled up this initiative to cover 31 states & UTs in FY 2021-22 and for all the types of packaging plastic it uses. CII under its waste to worth initiative in the 2nd edition of 3R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) Awards to recognize and reward best practices of industry, start-ups and ULBs to set a benchmark of excellence in waste management, recognized G&B’s efforts by declaring as “Winner in Excellence in Managing Plastics and Packaging items/ wastes by EPR Strategies in the PIBOs Sub-category” As the use and management of plastic becomes increasingly important in the climate discourse, G&B is committed to positive action on this crucial front. The reduction of plastic use coupled with the assurance of its reuse and recycling of plastic waste are the strategic imperatives while we need to urgently eliminate single use and unnecessary use of plastic. Businesses across the globe need to transform the use and management of plastic with design and innovation.
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