INTRODUCTION

All synthetic products affect the environment over their life cycle from the point of manufacturing to disposal as waste. Plastic products are no exception. Indeed, plastics are so versatile in use that their impacts on the environment are extremely wide ranging. With this realization, the need for plastics to conform to certain guidelines/standards and code of conduct for its use has begun to dawn on manufacturers, civic authorities, environmentalists and the public.

Plastics have many advantages. They are light, easy to mould, durable, and easy to adopt to different user requirements. However, plastics are difficult to destroy and are classified as non-biodegradable. On the other hand, it is easy to recycle plastics.

Elsewhere in the world, the plastics industry has realized the need of environmentally acceptable modes for recycling plastics wastes and has set out targets and missions. Prominent among such missions are the Plastics Waste management Institute in Japan, the European Centre for Plastics in Environment, the Plastics Recycling Foundation and the American Plastics Council of SPI in the US, the National Packaging Protocol and Environmental Plastics Institute of Canada, Recycling Council of British Plastics Federation and the Plastics Waste management Task Force in Malaysia. Beside these, the European Parliament and the Council of European Union have issued 'Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 94/62/EC'. Such a need has also been felt in India and a proposal for setting up an Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment is being considered. In addition, a Nation Plastics Waste Management Task Force has been constituted.

In the Indian context, if must be borne in mind that the growth of the Indian plastics industry has been phenomenal - the growth rate here is higher than the plastics industry elsewhere in the world. Plastics are being used in all sectors of the economy. From 1.88 million tones (1995-96), the domestic demand for plastics is expected to cross 4 million tones by year 2001-2002. This development is striking also because the plastics industry itself has made remarkable progress worldwide. The Indian plastics industry has out-paced all other industries in the country.

This is hardly surprising since the use of plastics has infiltrated all sectors of the economy. Infrastructure, agriculture, building and construction, telecommunications, consumer goods and packaging are all high growth areas, which indicate a spiraling demand for plastics.

Furthermore, the depletion of already scarce natural resources has established plastics as the material of choice in innumerable applications. For instance, in packaging, plastics are increasingly replacing jute, paper, wood, glass and metal. Even traditional areas, such as agriculture, area also using plastics as part of modern scientific methods for packaging.

India's current per capita consumption of 1.6 kg of plastics is expected to rise to around 4 kg. By the year 2000. This 2.4 kg. Rise represents demand for an additional 2.4 million tones of commodity polymers

It is felt that the maturing of the economy will witness a change in the shares of the end use sectors employing plastics. While consumption of plastics in agriculture, building and industry will stabilize, the demand from the consumer products industry and for packaging material will command an increasing share and by the turn of the century, these two segments alone will account for two-thirds of the demand for commodity polymers. Even today, packaging is the major application of plastics accounting for 52 per cent of plastics consumption. The trend is expected to continue.

Over the past 25 years, a countrywide network for collection of plastics waste through rag-pickers, waste collectors, waste dealers and recycling enterprises (numbering around 20,000) have sprung up in India. Being promoted in an era of shortage of raw materials and high import tariffs, this economy-driven development has been rated as complementary and parallel to the virgin plastics industry. Over 60 percent of the plastics waste (around 800,000 tonnes) generated in the country is recycled and used in the manufacture of various plastics products. About 2000 units recycle around 60 per cent of the plastics waste generated in the country. Which is the highest in the world (Europe: 7%, Japan : 12%, China : 10% and S. Africa : 16%). This activity is valued at Rs. 2,5000 crores per annum. By 2002, around 2 million tones of wastes generated will go in for recycling.