Waste

DTE Coverage: Plastic’s toxic trail

A 5-part series that looks at health impacts across the life cycle of plastic

By Siddharth Ghanshyam Singh
Published: Saturday 27 April 2024
The Panipat industrial cluster visited by Down To Earth. Photo: Vikas Choudhary / CSE

Plastic’s toxic trail: ‘Indispensable’ polymer’s health impacts all-pervasive; petrochemical workers are especially vulnerable


Down To Earth visited Panipat’s petrochemical cluster to find how the area is in throes of a health crisis
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Plastic’s toxic trail: The curious case of India’s petrochemical refineries


India’s legislations do not mandate it to create a baseline health assessment of the population before setting up factories with the potential of harming the environment and human health
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Plastic’s toxic trail: What are these polymers and what do they contain?


Between 2021 and 2024, the number of chemicals reported to be used by the plastic industry has gone up from around 10,000 to 16,000
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Plastic’s toxic trail: These polymers’ usage and disposal have their own set of dangers


Plastics not only pollute and affect human health during the production phase, but continue to do so during the usage phase, as well as through the disposal and the processing and recycling of plastic waste
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Plastic’s toxic trail: What are other countries doing about chemicals used in these polymers?


The need right now is to simplify plastics towards safety and sustainability through policies promoting the use of fewer and safer chemicals
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