Breaking Down Plastics: Innovative Solutions for Tackling the Plastics Problem

Co-authored with Vishrut Shivkumar

As the world is recovering from the pandemic, other serious environmental issues continue affecting people's lives. Also referred to as the ‘pandemic plastic’, masks, gloves, sanitizer bottles, and biomedical waste have been added to the terrestrial environment causing a great deal of concern to the planet and human health.?

?Microplastics in our bodies and the environment

This plastic waste is a grave cause of concern as a majority of it ends up as microplastics, which find their way into our water bodies, oceans, and even the human body.? A Dutch study published in the Environment International journal in March 2022 found microplastics in nearly 80% of the subjects’ blood, with scientists believing it eventually moves into our organs. Such microplastics have also widely been found in mountains, air, soil, and the food chain.

Unfortunately, only a small percentage of plastic is recycled, with the rest buried in the ground or burned, releasing carcinogens and poisonous gases into the environment.? For example, the average mask consists of polypropylene, while medical gloves are made of latex, nitrile rubber, neoprene, and other plastics. Most of these single-use products break down into microplastics that take centuries to decompose while in the ocean.?

To solve the burgeoning crisis of pandemic plastic waste, India alone incinerated or landfilled 87,000 tonnes of PPE and other plastic waste in 2021, adding a similar amount of microplastics to the environment. However, when waste is burnt or buried, it contributes to air and land pollution. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), outdoor air pollution contributes to over 3.7 million early deaths annually, with open burning (of domestic waste)being responsible for could be connected to around a fifth of these deaths.

Stepping towards a solution

To tackle this growing problem we can increase the rate of mechanical recycling wherein industries recycle and reuse discarded plastics. Another solution is chemical recycling which can be used to turn tonnes of plastics into oil. Doing so creates a closed loop of circular fuels and plastic that can be reused in multiple forms.?

A widely used and effective method of chemical recycling is pyrolysis. In the process of pyrolysis, plastic waste is heated at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen and converted into energy in the form of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels.?

One of the greatest challenges in adopting this technique lies in an unregulated and informal process of disposal, collection, recycling and managing dead-end plastics. However, this is where Community Action Collab’s pyrolysis project, Pandemic Plastic steps in. Pandemic Plastic, aims to regulate and create effective processes for managing plastic waste, knitting together the ecosystem of pyrolysis recyclers, plastic aggregators, urban local bodies, and other participants,? while also reducing the amount of plastic that ends up in oceans and landfills. The goal is to pyrolyse 250 tonnes of plastics so that they don’t end up in oceans and landfills.

Other eco-social initiatives to tackle plastic waste

Another initiative of the Catalyst Group is Noble Plastic, which focuses on repurposing and recycling apparel plastics, including used hangers, sizers, plaques and other plastics from corporations in the apparel industry. The team also works with partners to convert non-recyclable plastic into oil via pyrolysis and aims to pyrolyse 1000 tonnes of plastic and channel them into more productive uses. They have also tracked Scope 1 carbon generated from ops and planted over 20,500 trees across Karnataka to achieve carbon neutrality.?

The Catalyst Group's integrated circularity initiative, Shoonya, helps brands meet net-zero carbon emission targets through plastic recycling, emission offsetting, sustainable agriculture, and water and soil management.?

In conclusion, it is essential to create an ecosystem where the problem of plastic pollution is tackled innovatively. Partner with us to create a circular economy model that safely and ecologically handles waste for the benefit of the people and the planet.