Over 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels, contributing directly to greenhouse gas emissions. Global estimates have suggested that over their life cycle, GHG emissions from plastics are on the order of 1.7 Gt of CO2-equivalent units (CO2e). This is more CO2e than was emitted in 2017 by industrialized countries such as Germany, Italy or France. Studies estimate that India produces over 26000 tons of plastic waste every day. Plastic pollution also has a distorted social impact. Low-income countries and low-income communities face a disproportionately higher brunt of the plastic pollution impacts. The plastic recycling sector, too, is made up predominantly of informal workers. It is estimated that 50-80% of all plastic recycling is carried out within the informal sector in India.
The low margins and high barriers to formalisation keep the workers within this sector outside the rapidly changing formal waste management ecosystem. These workers often lack access to fair wages, social security benefits and fair terms of engagement. Fair-trade, inclusive and high-quality plastic recycling will be a critical strategy towards correcting these social inequities and reducing our dependency on fossil fuel-based plastics.
The European Green Deal provides an ambitious framework to fundamentally transform its economy in a manner that enables carbon neutrality by 2050. It aims to build a resource-efficient circular economy where economic growth is decoupled from resource extraction. The Swachh Bharat Mission in India has similarly brought a much-needed focus on waste management and plastic waste issues and created an environment to support positive changes in this regard. The Indian regulatory landscape has also evolved in recent years, with the introduction of the Extended Producer Responsibility framework. Project Protoprint was founded on these very same principles to provide a concrete and achievable roadmap to limit the social and environmental externalities of plastic waste. It is in alignment with the environmental and climate priorities of India and the EU.