Plastic waste management has been a major challenge to developing countries. Current waste minimization and recycling approaches in most countries have not yielded desired outcome. There is the need to get a sustainable and customized approach that can easily and successfully be adopted by developing countries.
These non-biodegradable plastics are nowdays used in providing pitching to the roads as cementing material..Such potential uses need to be explored through more aggressive efforts like this..
Dear Alhassan,
It is well understood that plastics (bottles, bags, sheets etc.) are one of the component of solid wastes such as papers, vegetable wastes, jute bags, cloth pieces, glass pieces etc. I think hazardous hospital wastes management is more complicated and critical rather than other solid wastes management (SWM).
Regarding the plastic waste management, following recommendations/ suggestions have been introduced for your kind references:
-Plastic banning/ reduction policy should be formulated by the government and papers and clothes bags promotion policy should be initiated and put in action within one year duration considering the source reduction (R),
-Have to segregate the plastics and collect them in separate container at house hold level,
-Have to manage the solid waste collection containers at an appropriate locations along the busy road sides, super markets, institutions, universities etc.
-Have to purchase and collect the wastes by the concerned SWM organization/ company,
-Have to open the plastic materials/ goods collection stores/centres and bye from the community people,
-Have to reuse (R) the plastics where possible,
-Have to establish the factory for recycle (R) the plastic materials, for multiple uses. After following above mentioned steps SWM could be done including plastic wastes management.
It is a difficult question to answer without being able to observe change..... Just some information: three months ago the Government of Fiji introduced a bill making it compulsory for shops to charge for plastic bags they provide for customers (about 5 US Cents a bag). One has to wait and see, if this ends the large scale pollution caused by plastic bags..... To early to say, but surely worth following up.....
Dear Alhassan,
As others already mentioned, the best way to deal with plastic waste is not to produce it in the first place. This would mean strict regulation on the production and retail of plastics. Just last week, Kenya imposed a ban on plastic bags that might lead to jail time or a $40,000 fine. Finding out whether extreme measures such as this are needed, or whether making shops charge for plastic bags is enough, might still take some time. And such laws completely ignore any other plastic waste, such as packaging of goods. Also, the capitalist lifestyle and consumerism of developed nations has to stop if we want to put an end to the increasing waste crisis.
Incineration has been suggested as a way to turn plastic waste into usable energy, which might seem attractive in a developing-country scenario because of the abundance of locally produced and imported waste. Still, burning facilities are costly to build and do not get rid of dioxins, mercury, lead and other toxins.
Recycling is another option. Unfortunately, with the falling price of oil, recycling is becoming less and less profitable (plastic being a derivative of oil). Even in countries with a thriving recycling system for plastic bottles, such as Germany, Finland, etc., the average bottle gets reused only once before it is disposed of.
Then there is the landfill, of course. Large landfills today are required to capture their gas emissions but it is questionable whether this is actually happening, and examples from India, Brazil and other developing regions show the environmental and humanitarian problems involved with open landfills.
I am very happy you are dealing with this problem, we really need a sustainable solution to waste management in order to support the development of regions rising out of poverty without putting even more stress on the environment.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/28/kenya-brings-in-worlds-toughest-plastic-bag-ban-four-years-jail-or-40000-fine
http://www.business-standard.com/content/b2b-manufacturing-industry/us-china-account-for-70-of-india-s-e-waste-imports-116030400460_1.html
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/jun/14/green-waste-distribution-methods-recycling-plastic-oil-epa
The best to do isn't to manage plastic waste. I think developing countries may start investing in alternative biodegradable materials. Where this is difficult, Recycling will be of much help.
I think the key word in what you wrote is customised. In developing countries plastic can be a valuable resource. It can also be an unsightly pollutant littering the environment. It depends on what problem you are trying to solve.
Recycling has always been the best way in managing it. Now, artists are using these plastic waste for installation art to make good use of them.
Yes recycling is needed and here in Kenya people are reusing plastics to make fencing poles.
Developed countries have also succeeded in applying different treatment and re-use methods for the generated MSW, including; recycling, composting, and energy recovery, in addition to the disposing of the waste in proper landfills. Common practices to manage the plastic waste are open burning, reusing, open dumping, recycling, and landfill. Countries are making efforts to manage the plastic waste generation problem at rural level. Open dumping and open burning are the main implemented waste treatment and final disposal systems, mainly visible in low-income countries. Out of them recycling and reusing are considered to be the best waste management method, for obvious reasons because recycling not only allows us to get rid of waste material that we no longer need but effectively converts it into something that is useful and is required as raw materials for industries. The rules require manufacturers to take responsibility for the collection and disposal of plastic waste and encourage the use of eco-friendly packaging materials. Another measure taken by the government is the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a nationwide campaign launched in 2014 to improve cleanliness and sanitation in India. Most developing countries face particular fundamental difficulties in relation to solid waste management, which has evolved into a number of issues with continuously increasing complexity due to limited resources and increasing quantities and hazardousness, limited or conflicting information to make reliable management
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