Central idea: The article highlights the issue of plastic waste generated by e-commerce giant Amazon and the need for a biotransformation technology that can make plastics biodegradable and its potential applications in reducing plastic waste in various industries.

Amazon’s Plastic Waste Problem

• Amazon generated 321 million kilograms (709 million pounds) of plastic from packaging waste in 2021.
• The amount of plastic waste generated by Amazon in 2021 is enough to circle the Earth over 800 times as air pillows.

What is Biotransformation Technology?

• Biotransformation technology is a novel approach to ensure plastics that escape refuse streams are processed efficiently and broken down.
• The technology was co-developed by Polymateria and the Imperial College in London, UK.
• Plastics made using this technology are given a pre-programmed time during which the manufactured material looks and feels like conventional plastics without compromising on quality.
• Once the product expires and is exposed to the external environment, it self-destructs and biotransforms into bioavailable wax, which is then consumed by microorganisms, converting waste into water, CO2, and biomass.
• The technology is the world’s first that ensures polyolefins fully biodegrade in an open environment without causing any microplastics.

Need for Biotransformation Technology

• India generates 3.5 billion kgs of plastic waste annually, and a third of it comes from packaging waste.
• In 2019, plastic packaging waste from e-commerce firms was estimated at over a billion kilograms worldwide.
• Amazon generated nearly 210 million kgs (465 million pounds) of plastic from packaging waste in 2019.
• Up to 10 million kgs (22.44 million pounds) of Amazon’s plastic packaging ended up in the world’s freshwater and marine ecosystems as pollution in 2019.

Application of this technology

• The food packaging and healthcare industries are the two prime sectors that could use this technology to reduce waste.
• The increase in cost is relatively small compared to conventional plastic which does not contain this technology.
• Some well-known Indian firms in the food and packaging industries deploy such technologies.
• Within healthcare and pharma industries, this technology provides biodegradable solutions for non-woven hygiene products like diapers, sanitary napkins, facial pads, etc.

India’s initiatives to tackle plastic pollution

• Phased elimination: The Indian government launched a plastic waste management gazette to help tackle the ever-growing plastic pollution caused by single-use plastics. The government imposed a ban on single-use plastics last year to bring a stop to its use in the country.
• National Dashboard on Elimination of Single-Use Plastic and Plastic Waste Management: It brings all stakeholders together to track the progress made in eliminating single-use plastic and effectively managing such waste.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) portal: It helps in improving accountability traceability, and facilitating ease of compliance reporting in relation to EPR obligations of the producers, importers, and brand-owners.
• Lifecycle monitoring: India has developed a mobile app to report single-use plastics grievances to check the sale, usage, or manufacturing of single-use plastics in their area.

Alternatives to Reducing Plastic Waste

• A switch to jute or paper-based packaging could potentially cut down plastic waste.
• Wooden packaging is yet another alternative, but that will make the packaging bulkier and increase the cost.
• The alternatives can be made using coir, bagasse, rice and wheat bran, plant and agricultural residue, banana and areca leaves.

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