The plastic industry in India has stressed that there is an urgent necessity to address matters related to plastic waste management and initiate awareness building programmes in the media and other modes of publicity so as to remove the negative perception of plastics.

The issue came to the fore at a recent meeting of the plastic industry bodies convened by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC) to discuss environmental concerns in plastics sector.

After detailed deliberations, the following decisions were taken:

1. The awareness programmes conducted by the industry associations should include plastic waste management issues i.e., post usage, segregation at source and safe disposal and recycling of plastic waste. Existing initiatives of industry association need to be strengthened to cover large number of schools across the country.

2. Associations may also consider organising "recycling mela" at various schools wherein students may be encouraged to bring household plastic waste and deposit systematically. Under these initiatives, students can be rewarded in a small way by the organisers. This will help in spreading the concept of systematic disposal and recycling faster.

3. The awareness programmes need to be conducted at various metro cities having high level of plastic consumption in association with municipalities, electronic and print media. Additionally, smaller cities also need to be brought under coverage.

4. Industry associations should also work with municipalities under the existing funding mechanisms on solid waste management and take up projects in collaboration with municipal authorities for plastic waste management.

5. Industry associations will prepare their programme schedules and intimate the department. The support needed from the government for these initiatives may also be identified so as to assist the DCPC in projecting the requirement of funds in the 12th Plan, as no funds are currently earmarked for this purpose.