Plastic conundrum
More than a 100 million tonnes of plastic is produced world-wide each year. Though plastics have opened the way for a plethora of new inventions and devices it has also ended up clogging the drains and becoming a health hazard. Many countries, including India, are trying to increase the amount of plastic that is recylced. But commercial interests create hinderance for effective legislation to remove plastics from goods where they can threaten public health. Also there is a clear trend of shipping off the plastic waste of countries in the north to countries of the south
| Two month"s plastic export to Asia | ||
| India is the fourth highest Asian importer of plastic waste | ||
| Country | Number of Shipments | Total (kg) |
| Hong Kong | 586 | 17,137,118 |
| Philippines | 58 | 2,445200 |
| Indonesia | 50 | 2,248,443 |
| India | 11 | 998,046 |
| Malaysia | 7 | 254,935 |
| China | 6 | 95,746 |
| Taiwan | 6 | 156,453 |
| Thailand | 6 | 123,974 |
| Korea | 6 | 109,807 |
| Japan | 5 | 51,210 |
| Sigapore | 5 | 71,437 |
| Total | 747 | 23,692,369 |
Pellets of information on plastics in India |
| • India yet does not have a uniform nation-wide law for ban on plastic polybags |
| • Average Indian uses one kilogramme (kg) of plastics per year. The world annual average is 18 kg per capita |
| • India imported 7,841.8 metric tonnes of plastic waste from the US in the first half of 1994 |