INTRODUCTION

In the current scenario, It's undoubtedly eminent that plastic has become an important aspect of everyone’s life. It's imperative to rethink our attitudes towards plastic usage, by promoting sustainable behaviours, breaking old habits and adopting new ones that are sustainable. Especially, in India where the majority of the population relies on plastic (mostly non-biodegradable) to satisfy their daily needs, eliminating the employment of plastic looks as if an impossible deal. With consistent usage, one thing that completes the cycle is that the end of it, i.e. plastic turning to waste. Waste that cannot be recycled UNEP has put a worldwide tab of 300 million tons for plastic waste generation annually and shockingly, 3-4 million metric tonnes heaps of plastic waste is generated by India alone. During the lockdown, India generated 45,308 tonnes of Covid-19 biomedical waste within the year 2020. Needless to mention, this number is increasing consistently ever since.

THE PROBLEM

Some people might say that plastic waste generation has increased during the pandemic thanks to biomedical waste but I feel that it’s not solely the number of biomedical resources being utilized but also both their optimum utilisation and therefore the methods accustomed lose them. To throw more come upon this, let’s take a glance at it this way: governments of varied countries issued guidelines regarding masks, sanitisers, PPE kits, face shields, gloves, etc. but in most of the cases, there wasn't even one attempt at educating the population about ‘what do I do with them once I’ve got actually utilised them?’ While this is often not only constantly adding to the burden of the environment to soak up that much waste, but also affecting our sense of collective responsibility as responsible individuals of the society.

Plastic waste generation has significantly increased because we've been taught to practice survival of the simplest. What we are failing to determine is that in this run of ‘survival’ and trying to shield ourselves from Coronavirus, we've got forgotten our sense of responsibility towards responsible waste disposal. In a way, the pandemic has forced voluminous people to not think beyond their safety thus resulting in minimal or no responsibility towards waste generation.

Plastics, within the world we sleep in, represent convenience for both consumers and producers- a myopic concept that always ignores future implications.

WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING?

During the research, I was able to identify that our system was already burdened before the pandemic, India was already generating more waste than its systems could actually treat in line with data by CPCB, it says almost 20% of waste India generates on any given day is covid 19 related.

The need for resources may be a must the employment of the products like masks, gloves and face shields is important but how we eliminate them is additionally essential. We’ve to specialize in making our already burdened system more efficient and versatile.

There are guidelines issued by UNEP & WHO on a way to manage this biomedical waste in a sound manner.

Waste pickers whose livelihood was dependent upon the collection of waste were not benefitting and performing business as in normal times, thanks to the stringent social distancing measures. For instance, waste pickers help within the collection of reusable and recyclable dumped solid waste essential for the combination into economic production. Hence, waste pickers play an important role in achieving a circular economy, especially in developing countries.

When these Plastics and used masks don't seem to be managed soundly they'll cause uncontrolled dumping which may cause health risks for people. Open burning and incineration can result in the discharge of hazardous toxins within the environment and may also transmit viruses to the general public. Other waste can even reach river bodies and disturb the marine system and might cause problems for already disturbed ecosystems fighting global warming.

The covid-19 caseload in India increased by 234 per cent between the primary and therefore the second wave but the covid 19 biomedical waste generation increased only by 11 per cent, CPCB states it because of the higher segregation methods but the info clearly states the underrepresentation.

Businesses are using more and more layers of plastics to create products safer to use and consume but it's also increasing the waste generated rigorously.

In a country like ours which continues to be struggling to make a waste management system that's sustainable and ticks all boxes for correct waste management, it's really difficult to watch the flow of biowaste that too during the pandemic. An app named COVID19BWM was created to watch the flow which had only 184 of the 198 biomedical waste management plants. Reports also show there have been 100000 generators during November 2020 but only 5034 generators reporting during May 2021 when India accounted for pretty much half the cases worldwide.

22 of India’s 35 states and territories generated more waste than they might handle.

I as an individual living in the capital of the nation myself had such experiences during the covid outbreak while I was working on the ground level to provide food, masks and ration kits to the needy and the homeless. I realised there was no system established to either dispose or segregate the waste generated through households. People/Garbage pickers (Frontline workers) were tirelessly working to pick up the waste generated without any measures which could directly affect their health. In the current scenario also there are no practices adopted by households to segregate their waste at home. More strict laws and rules are needed to be implemented by municipalities/ states to make people aware of their responsibilities.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

From what I am able to draw till now is I used to be also ready to put off that there's also a desire for consumers to rethink their consumption practices. While lots of consumers might not be in a very position to form choices- for those that do, employing conscious eco-friendly practices- like reusable shopping bags, responsible waste management- including waste segregation and appropriate disposal practices, and advocating for responsible/sustainable business.

Plastics indeed offers an array of characteristics and properties that greatly improved our quality of life, thus being difficult to imagine a plastic-free economy and life. Yet, we must seek sustainable options. Bioplastics may well be an answer at an early stage, but it's important to proportion in innovation to confirm their environmental friendliness and their integration within the circular economy. Likewise, such a process must be in the course of extended producer responsibility, with the producer (distributors and sellers) internalising the price of management of waste (recycling and disposal) of their products.

We the people need to be more aware of our practices, consumption patterns and more importantly waste disposal techniques so that we can lessen the burden of our mother earth.