Even though plastic bags constitute a minuscule portion of total plastic consumption, environmental hazards caused by littering of the waste has brought the industry into negative light, a top government official said today.
"Plastics or synthetic polymers have earned a bad image in the last few years due to littering by consumers and lack of awareness among them about its disposal," Chemical Secretary K Jose Cyriac said at a workshop on plastic waste management organised by Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology here.
Even as plastic bags constitute only 2-3% of the total consumption of plastics in the country, littering of plastic waste causing environmental hazards has brought the industry into negative light, he added.
Paper manufacturing consumes more energy than producing plastic and the environment emissions are also 30% more, but all these things are overlooked, Cyriac said.
"In India we do not segregate our waste properly, which in the US and Europe amounts to a heavy penalty. Also littering is a problem here," he said.
India is a growing market for plastics and consumes about 8.5 million tonne annually against a global consumption of 200 million tonne per year, he added.
Worldwide, the plastics and polymer consumption will have an average growth rate of 5% and is expected to touch 227 million tonne by 2015.