Why is India promoting manufacture of plastics in the country? Is it a forward looking policy?

With the government's top priority bestowed on its "Make in India" policy, manufacturing sector is set to get all types of encouragement and proactive support from the government. A question that begs for an answer is whether the policy makers have selected the product basket for expanding production within the country or any one is welcome to manufacture any thing that will provide employment economic growth? This blogger is provoked to raise this issue because of a recent announcement by the plastic industry that special plastic "parks" are going to be established in the country for expanding production of fossil fuel based plastic materials in the next few years. This is a paradoxical situation when use of plastics is being curbed because of their indestructibility when disposed off in landfills, some times for almost 1000 years! If country had a plastic policy, at least there could have been a selection of types of products that are essential for sustaining the activities the products, mainly industrial items which will last for a long time, in stead of consumer items with short usage life. Definitely consumers must not be trusted to adopt recycling of plastic items at their end and proportion of consumer items must be progressively reduced as much as possible. Here is the report that boasts of quantum jump in plastics production through specialized parks across the country.

"All India Plastic Manufacturers Association (AIPMA) expects its under-construction plastic park in Dahej (Gujarat) to be operational in 2016. AIPMA is developing plastic parks across the country in a bid to promote plastic processing industry in the country. "AIPMA plans similar plastic parks in five states namely, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat," said Arvind Mehta, chairman, AIPMA governing council. The Dahej plastic park is coming up over 200 acres of land and is likely to house 150 companies, entailing an investment of around Rs 3,000 crore over the next few years. Together Gujarat and Daman-Silvassa region account for over 50 per cent of the country's polymer processing, and the park is expected to give a boost to this industry in the state. In addition, around 70 per cent of plastic raw material as well as 70 per cent of the plastic processing machinery is produced in Gujarat. According to AIPMA, the apex body and the largest industry association of the plastic industry in India, the plastic industry is poised to make significant contribution to various initiatives of the Union government and is focusing on developing skills and entrepreneurship. AIPMA said in a statement that most of the government initiatives such as Swachcha Bharat, 'More crop per drop of water', 'Housing for all', developing smart cities, cannot be implemented without using plastics and the industry has devised plans to promote its use to help Centre achieve its various goals. Rituraj Gupta, president, AIPMA, said, "The fact is plastic is a material that can be recycled for any number of times with varying end-uses and manufacturing of any product through it consumes less power. Thus, plastic is more environment-friendly." Gupta stated that the per capita consumption of plastic is only 9.7 kg per person in India while the global average is 27 kg. South Korea has the highest per capita plastic consumption of 100 kg per person".

Is it not a paradox that the world is moving towards a new plastics regime where bio-degradable plastics are replacing conventional plastics as most of us know, India is least concerned about the dangers posed by the latter in terms of health concerns and environmental degradation? There does not appear to be any concerted move to invest in developing new plastics from natural sources with high environmental credentials. There are hundreds of universities and research institutions in the country capable of working on plastic materials but they all lack a direction and a national mandate. It is time that government of India comes out with a National Plastics Policy and a dedicated "Mission" to transform the plastic landscape in the country into a more sustainable one, in stead of encouraging expansion of conventional plastics indiscriminately.. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

Food wastes-Bakery foods most wasted!

Why do people throw away perfectly safe and good quality food without consuming them? Probably a high degree of insensitivity to the sufferings of millions of fellow denizens who have no or little access to food due to economic compulsions. If some of the reports are to be believed the total quantum of food wasted across the world can feed almost 2 billion people, almost 30% of current world population! It is difficult to believe this figure though there is no independent data to confirm or challenge these staggering estimates. In a country like the UK, it is believed that about 24 million slices of bread are thrown way though they were of acceptable eating quality. Across Europe one estimate puts the quantity of food waste at about 90 million tons! Interestingly it appears bakery products top the list of food items wasted followed by pastry items like cakes. Here is a take on this perplexing issue: 

"Bread, biscuits and cakes rank high on the list of food wasted, so to what extent can bakery manufacturers drive environmental progress and help reduce food wastage? Paul Featherstone, group director of food recycler, SugaRich, investigated for Biscuit World. In April 2014, the House of Lords EU Committee revealed startling findings from their 'Counting the Cost of Food Waste: EU Food Waste Prevention' report1. At least 90 million tones of food is said to be wasted across the EU every year.  According to a report into UK food waste published in November 2013 by the Waste Resource Action Plan (WRAP)2, bread tops the list of food thrown away uneaten with the equivalent of a staggering 24 million slices of bread wasted daily,whilst sweet treats like cakes rank high on the list too. Legislative pressures and environmental targets have gone some way to encourage progress. The EU's pledge to halve edible food waste by 2020 is an ever-pressing driver, as is the media's continued scrutiny over unsustainable surplus food practices. Commercial factors have also had a distinct part to play because, whilst some organizations want to demonstrate stronger 'green' credentials to enhance their reputation and uphold their corporate social responsibility, others simply cannot afford the ever-rising charges associated with traditional landfill disposal or anaerobic digestion" 

There could be a logic in this situation where bread and cakes are wasted comparatively in larger quantities compared to others and the reason is that they are high moisture products vulnerable to spoilage, chemical, microbiological and organoleptically. Stale bread may be safe to eat but most people cannot accept it because of undesirable textural changes and reduction of flavor associated with fresh bread. So it is with cakes also. A logical question that follows is how to cut down on this colossal waste and whose responsibility it is to do that? Bakery industry probably will have to innovate further to prevent quality changes perceptible to the consumer so that they are not discarded on this account. On the part of the consumer there must be conscious attempt to buy just enough quantities for home consumption without resorting to storing them for long considering the susceptibility of bread to staling. Another point consumer has to remember is that staling phenomenon due to starch retrogradation is reversible by heat and naturally during toasting bread will regain its quality almost completely. Refrigeration must be resorted to if bread is to be stored for more than 2-3 days to prevent fungal spoilage. There is thus considerable scope to bring down wastage vis-a-vis bakery products if adequate care is taken by the industry as well as the consumer.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com