Hi all,

I was always been super interested in plastic. During last summer we had nephew Parth visiting India, being a chemical engineer, we discussed rubber and plastic situation. He said one sentence, “The plastic was innovated but not used the way it should be.” This made me think about a lot of things.

I researched many facts and figures, learned about its impact on marine and aquatic life and landfills. Then, I checked out the classic hierarchy of plastic waste management.

I attempted to dig in additional to seek solutions that we can easily upscale. I focused on the efforts done in India to address the current situation.

I will be focusing on each category in sequence.

One way to get rid of the plastic from landfills is to recycle. We’ll be coming thereto part.

We always read about the impact of plastic entering into water bodies and their harm. We understand the problem, but some dedicated minds work on mitigating.

There is a stimulating story of Varun, who developed an innovative device named Makara. This is often a battery-operated, aims to scale back manual cleaning, and focuses more on time management and effective cleaning. Machine costs Rs. 12000/-. Remote feature controlling paddle wheel operated motor and pulley, which pushes the vessel ahead as it navigates through the floating garbage. Varun, has so far, tested two types of water bodies and aims to develop the machine on a larger scale to use them in rivers and oceans.

Haaziq Kazi, named his ship ERVIS. He has presented his idea to a world audience on platforms like TedEx and Ted8. After sucking water from the ocean, the innovative system in ship sends marine life and water back to the ocean and segregates collected waste in five compartments. The system is supported by the sensors. This effort is registered and aligned with Sustainable Developmental Goals 12 & 14.

Brilliant, isn’t it?

Such kids are the future of India. These SDGs can be a reality with the help of Government and Stakeholders.

I will keep trying to find more solutions and update them timely.

An important part of waste management is to scale back.

The reduction has three aspects

• Reduce the quantity used by replacing with glass, cotton, etc., which are reusable materials. Here is the informed guide.
• Reduce the percentage of plastic in packaging material.
• Reduce plastic by replacing with sustainable alternatives like lignin.

During my consulting experience with SPRIM, I was part of the innovation project Aeroflexx, which uses 50% less plastic in packaging and can be easily recycled.

Here is an article in which they mentioned some efforts that companies around the globe are offering. The list covers 25 companies developing innovative packaging solutions in the food industry.

I tried to look at the efforts on India, I feel need some more digging.

India has a lot of scope for improvement.

The innovation of plastic has supported this idea. Plastics are often reused multiple times in its original format. In a lifestyle, we Indians do that as a habit.

There are DIY ideas that help us reuse the plastics with some modifications and maybe innovative.

Further components of the hierarchy will be covered during a series of blog posts.

The next post I’m working on is an interesting story of the Indian entrepreneur recycling the plastics and construction waste.

Follow the blog for exploring yet another interesting innovation story next week!

#Stay Home Stay Safe

Best

Amaraja