As the war against Single Use Plastic (SUP) gets intensified with  desperate hunts for finding ways of taming this potentially hazardous substance, an ingenious way of utilizing it for the benefit of society has attracted public attention. It has come to light that NHIDCL will be constructing roads of at least seven kms in Arunachal where SUP will be a principal input material. This news carries lot of hope and has assumed importance since it is increasingly becoming difficult to control the use as well as disposal of the most ‘baneful’ class of the plastic family all over the country. If this well-researched methodology of using plastic waste as a means of development ultimately pays off, it will no doubt stand out as an example of turning adversity into opportunity.
Although the abbreviation generally implies all packaging products such as bottled drinks, containers, straws, carry bags, decoration plastics and countless others that would ordinarily be throw away after first use, ambiguity still remains in absence of a clear-cut definition and a comprehensive overall policy framework. To address the issues, a national policy on SUP is currently in the making and in all probability, will be unveiled on October 2 next. Whether there will be a blanket ban on SUP or there will be a phase-wise process can only be known on the day itself when plans will be announced. But the way-out to freedom from SUP will be a much critical process since there is now an overwhelming dependency on it and also involvement of millions of people directly or indirectly through employment. The situation has turned out to be more concerning and sensitive at the current backdrop of an all-encompassing economic slowdown.
At this juncture, mismanagement of plastic waste in general and SUP in particular comes to the fore and in reality it’s still by and large primitive in terms of  collection, disposal as well as recycling vis-a-vis accepted global standards. But when it all seemed like fighting a lost battle, evolution of a technology that uses plastic including SUP as an ingredient for making roads has shown a ray of hope. And what is more encouraging particularly in contexts like Arunachal, roads made from waste plastic, already tried in several states in more than one lakh kilometres length have proved to be more durable against extreme weather conditions like floods and heat as compared to conventional roads.
While shunning the omnipresent plastic completely from Indian way of life seems a task next to impossible, plastic waste as raw material for building roads can show definitive ways for lessening a mammoth load. Is it not a reminder of the adage-‘technology for mankind’?    

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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