Six brands account for 50% of plastic waste in Thiruvananthapuram

Six brands account for 50% of plastic waste in Thiruvananthapuram

Six brands produce 50% of all the plastic waste from households in the city, as per a brand audit carried out by the city Corporation’s Green Army under the technical guidance of Thanal, an NGO. Milma leads the list of brands with the plastic packaging for its milk and milk products contributing 15.2% of the total plastic waste. Pepsico comes second at 10.3%. Twenty brands contribute 75% of the total plastic waste produced.

The audit was conducted for a period of one month in 134 households spread across 100 wards of the city Corporation. It was carried out as part of Global Brand Audit by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. Dry, clean waste collected from the households were categorised and audited by the Green Army volunteers from various schools.

The audited results were analysed on the basis of their weight and number of pieces of each brand in their respective categories. It was found that 1.4 kg of plastic waste is generated a month by each household in the city. One of the findings of the survey is that there is domination of local products in the category of food and snacks. There is domination of global giants in the FMCG product categories such as health and sanitation, and beverages.

“By these estimates, the city generates 4,242 tonnes of plastic waste a month. The Corporation has to spend crores of rupees to process this waste. The Corporation has to now get in touch with the representatives of these brands and begin to implement Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), by which the brands who produce this plastic waste have to recollect these and process it. This baseline data is prepared to assess the role of each brand present while implementing EPR. This data shall be used as a tool for negotiation purposes with the companies,” said C. Jayakumar, Founder trustee of Thanal. The report also recommends the option of Milma shifting to milk ATMs and vending machines in the city to reduce plastic waste. The green army members handed over the report to Mayor V.K. Prashant at the Corporation office on Tuesday.