Plastic waste management practices pertaining to India with particular focus on emerging technologies

Under the parent petrochemical industries, plastic industry is proliferating enormously over the past several years globally due to its advantages in terms of weight, robustness, expense, versatility, and durability. Due to the diversified consumer base representing varied climate zones, food habits, and standards of living, the generation and growth opportunities for the plastic industry in India are particularly distinct and humongous. The present work extensively reviews the Indian plastic industry with primary focus on the evolving technologies for plastic waste valorization encompassing their level of utilization, technology readiness, and progress achieved at R&D level. The study attempts to recognize different issues related to technology, recycling, policy, research, regulation that should be given attention to formulate an improved plastic waste management strategy in the region. Though significant shares of waste plastics in the country are processed by traditional practices, state-of-the-art technologies primarily plastic to oil conversion, in road making and in cement manufacturing, are being deployed at increasing rate. Action to tackle the problem of plastic contamination in India will need to adopt a pan India strategic consensus/concurrent approach for effective waste collection and segregation with active participation of urban local bodies, fixing the role of the informal sectors, investment for reliable technology adoption with skilled manpower for operation, adoption of circular economy schemes involving plastic waste co-processing, and providing support to work on R&D for better penetration of the proven plastic valorization options along with their environmental and social implications.