Era of biodegradables: bringing alternative of plastic bottles to forefront

biodegradables

BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION: The population around the world accounts for around 7.53 billion (753.04 crores) out of which 1.33 Billion (133.92 crores) reside in India. As per the 2018 report published by United Nation, 8.30 billion (830 crores) tonnes of Plastic have been generated in the world so far which is more than the global population. According to another published report, 630 Cr metric tons of plastic that were generated in 2015 had 9% recyclable, 12% incarnated, and 79% discarded in landfills. If this continues, by the year 2050, there will be the generation of 1200 Crore tons of plastic which will end up in landfills. Plastics are primarily used in packaging, building and construction work, textiles, consumer and institutional products, transportation, electronics, industrial machinery, and other areas. Out of all areas of its application, packaging has the highest share which accounts for 146 million tones as per 2015 published data. Polyethylene (PET), polystyrene and Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are highly used materials in the packaging industry due to their tremendous mechanical, chemical, and electrical properties. According to the International Trade Centre (ITC), the trade value of polyethylene was estimated to be $85.30 billion in 2018 and the market size was evaluated to be $174 billion in 2018. Plastic is non-biodegradable in nature, it takes around 400-1000 years to degrade. Even though they have a negative impact on our environment, and health, plastics have still widely been used around the globe. As per the UN annual report 2018, on World Environment Day Indian government pledged to ban the utilization of single-use plastic followed by which Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) has discontinued providing water bottles to the passengers traveling through buses and are not allowed to carry plastic bottles with them. Stopping the use of plastic does not provide a solution where we are completely dependent on plastic. Myriad materials are being investigated which could be used to reduce the environmental burden example corn starch, paper, casein formaldehyde, red algae etc. OBJECTIVE: To determine various alternatives to plastic bottles which can create a bridge for the future growth of India and facilitate the preservation of the environment. METHODOLOGY: A literature review of the status and future perspective on the introduction of biodegradable material all over India. RESULTS: The country's first private semi-high-speed train named Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express, provides biodegradable drinking water bottles which are manufactured at the Mumbai bottling plant of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on a trial basis, explains the cost of bottles to be 15 paise extra in manufacturing (2018). In past, a Vegan bottle made from the bagasse of sugarcane has been manufactured by the French packaging company- Lyspackaging. Not only this, an Edible water bottle is a blob-like water container (named ooho) that is prepared using brown algae, sodium alginate gel, and calcium lactate are also available. Another brand-named Biota sells spring water in bottles made from corn starch. RECOMMENDATION: The feasibility of biodegradable bottles could be explored in various geographical locations in India.

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