The Covid 19 pandemic has sparked the urgency for plastics. Despite lockdown, manufacturers of PET bottles in Jalgaon have seen an increase in 59 percent in their sales.
Jalgaon: The demand for masks, PVC pipes and sanitizer bottles contribute to the demand of plastic products. According to a report by Nielsen India the demand for hand sanitizers on e-commerce platforms rose by 1,400%.
Pramod Sancheti, Owner of Winley Polymer, Jalgaon, said that he predicted the pandemic may affect India after receiving overseas hand sanitizer order in January. He was shocked when he received the order for sanitizers during the pandemic. He said, “So we thought that this problem may come to India and we started thinking on hand sanitizer bottles manufacturing. So, Corona was an opportunity for us and we converted it.”
But as the demand surges so did the waste. The Central Pollution Control Board data shows between June to September, India generated 18,006 tonnes of covid biomedical waste. Maharashtra contributed the highest biomedical waste.
Mr Vinod Biyani, President of Jalgaon Plastic Reprocessors Association said that, “Government wants that plastic waste should be reduced but since there is no single pan India policy so they are not getting a proper response and plastic waste is still not reduced.”
Environmentalists say both consumers and the government need to work against plastic pollution. Manisha Gutman, environment activist said, “My general view about plastic industry is those items that are hard plastic which can last long and be recycled are okay but everywhere as we introduce new single use item, we have to be very careful because we are such a huge country and so many users the way plastic is generated is in massive quantity that we cannot cope.”
