Is paper the new plastic? 

Post-use plastics are a perennial problem in every part of the world. The internet is full  of gut-wrenching images of what seems like a massacre of terrestrial and marine life caused by commonly used plastics. 

“Was that my straw that killed a turtle”, one might wonder. “Maybe not mine, but someone from my species for sure!”

Indians use 13.6 kilograms of plastics per capita per year against a global average of 30 kgs. But we still have the highest share of mismanaged plastic in the world.

A nation-wide ban on 19 single-use plastics has been in place since July 2022. Its impact is visible on the ground. Not only is it easy to spot the banned items, but some of the plastic alternatives being used have a questionable sustainability quotient. 

Paper, for instance, has emerged as a green hero in the fight against plastic owing to its renewable origins and biodegradable nature. Environment policy tools such as the Extended Producer Responsibility that shifts the onus of a product’s life cycle on its producer, is currently applicable on plastic  packaging in India but does not cover other materials including paper, leading to its indiscriminate usage. 

The “woke” community of sellers – ranging from the e-commerce majors, big retailers, even the local chemist stores — are handing out purchases in paper bags. Little do they know that Sten Gustav Thulin, the maker of plastic bags, thought that his invention could save the planet from the deforestation caused by the paper industry. 

Pulp and paper industry consumes nearly 40 per cent of the industrial wood-traded globally, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature, and this figure does not account for the illicit felling of trees; incidentally, India is the third largest importer of illegally logged wood. 

The Indian paper industry claims to be wood positive, which means paper mills in India plant more trees than they harvest; however, research proves that trees and forests accumulate more carbon as they age, so new trees would need hundreds of years to accumulate as much carbon as mature trees.

Biodiversity loss is also not accounted for in this harvesting-replanting trade off; rampant deforestation by the timber mafia within India is destroying the habitat of the endangered native species like golden langur. 

In 2018, the Central Pollution Control Board of India conducted a life cycle analysis of  some commonly used packaging materials and found that a paper bag has 2-3 times more global warming potential as compared to a plastic bag. 

The processing phase of virgin as well as recycled paper is highly water and energy-intensive; it includes adding various chemicals like bleaching agents which have ozone-depleting potential. 

Despite that and the fact that printing activities have nose-dived due to digitisation, the  paper industry in India currently has the fastest growth rates compared to anywhere else in the world. 

The demand has likely been fuelled by the additional packaging requirements to replace plastic, such as in bags, straws, cups and containers. Although paper as a material lacks the strength and barrier properties of plastic, it is  thickened and coated with plastic, aluminium or chemical solvents to create a moisture barrier. 

More thickness means more pulp, thus a bigger environmental footprint. Additionally, the plastic layer / chemical coatings hinder its recyclability, it’s like combining the worst of both materials in terms of the environmental impact. Call it double trouble! 

Paper also has a cost disadvantage when compared to plastic, but because of the single-use plastics ban, most registered entities have switched to paper as this is the most readily  available alternative. 

Other, more environment-friendly single-use alternatives made from agri-waste like bagasse and rice husk have not seen as much growth post the implementation of ban. FMCG giants have taken a simpler route of replacing plastic straws for their beverages with paper ones, rather than bringing innovations in the package design to eliminate the need for straws, or replacing single-use with a more sustainable reusable packaging. 

Many restaurants have switched to paper for food packaging, even for the gravy-based items like dal makhani and sambhar. Just like plastic is known to adversely impact human health, studies have shown that hydrocarbon wax from waxed paper in packaging permeates into food; the substances used to impart water / oil resistance to paper is toxic and can cause  endocrine disruption. Recycling of these heavily soiled paper containers is also questionable. 

Single-use plastic ban was brought in due to low recycling rates and the associated environmental footprint of plastic items that are just used once. Single-use paper products perform  worse on both these parameters, thus it is safe to conclude that paper truly has become the new plastic and we’ve entered a trade-off that saves turtles at the cost of  langurs.

Views expressed are the authors’ own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.

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