At Global Plastics Treaty in Geneva, India’s pro-plastics dilemma is clear

As delegates from 180 nations gather in Geneva today to tackle one of the biggest environmental challenges of modern times — plastic pollution — through a proposed Global Plastics Treaty they hope to finalise over the next 10 days — fisherfolk in far-off Dahej, on the western coast of India abutting the Arabian Sea, are struggling to find solutions to their rapidly declining catch of prawns, crabs and various fish. They believe the toxic effluent discharge from the Dahej petrochemical complex is destroying marine life.

But the real problem with Dahej, India’s richest industrial zone as well as its biggest petroleum, chemical and petrochemical investment region, is not just that it’s upending the lives of local fisherfolk, but also that its products are leaching microplastics into the food chain.

Indian diplomats seeking to protect India’s position at the Global Plastics Treaty conference in Geneva believe that the treaty should only focus on the waste management part of plastics – how to remove garbage landfills, for example.

“India, along with other oil and plastic producing countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Russia are against any text in the treaty draft on the production of plastic polymers.”

But if 106 out of the 180 countries participating in the conference have their way, then India and the remaining naysayers will have to abide by a legally binding international instrument to restrict plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.

The stakes are enormous. If the Global Plastics Treaty is passed, countries like India will have to change their internal laws to fall in line with the new rules that deal with plastic manufacturing and the chemicals used in it.

Meaning, the Dahej petrochemical region will have to spend large sums of money to make changes in the way they treat their potentially poisonous discharge of chemicals that includes microplastic waste that is harming the life cycle. Some of these accumulate in the body, mimic hormonal action, affect fertility, damage the nervous system and cause cancer.

India’s dilemma is clear. It needs manufacturing industries, like the petrochemical one at Dahej, with 180 existing and 650 under-construction industrial units, to provide a thrust to its economy.

It has openly stated its position against production caps because it wants to become a major exporter of petrochemicals.

With the market size of the Indian petrochemicals sector expected to grow to $300 billion by 2025, up from the current $220 billion, the treaty might come in the way of its export ambitions.

But India is also the biggest plastic polluter in the world, accounting for a fifth of the global plastic emissions, according to a 2024 study in Nature.

While it has proposed the inclusion of a dedicated multilateral fund in the treaty for developing countries to transition, it has been against phasing out problematic plastics — mostly single-use plastic, even though there is an official ban since 2019.

“In India, 67 per cent of the petrochemical manufacturing capacity is utilised to manufacture polymers (plastics),” said Siddharth Ghanshyam Singh of the Centre for Science & Environment.

According to the UN Environment Programme, more than 13,000 chemicals are used in plastics — of these, 7,000 have been tested for adverse impacts and over 3,200 identified as ‘chemicals of potential concern’.

In fact, 99 per cent of plastics are a petrochemical product —owing their origin to crude oil and natural gas. According to international research group Zero Carbon Analytics, 63 per cent of the global petrochemical production is used to make plastic polymers. Only 1 per cent have a renewable source (called bioplastics).

The Geneva conference is the sixth meeting since 2022, when the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) adopted a resolution to develop a treaty to end plastic pollution across its life cycle (production, design, usage and disposal).  The fifth meeting, held in Busan, South Korea, in November 2024 was intended to be the final one, but due to disagreement between countries, it failed to deliver a treaty.

Annual production of plastics: 400 million tonnes

Of 400 million tonnes, 280 million tonnes becomes waste, could triple by 2050

Only 9 per cent of all plastics recycled since 1950

Contains 4,200 toxic chemicals *Source: Geneva Environment Network

Plastic pollution gained global attention when marine litter emerged as a critical transboundary issue. Recognising that marine litter and microplastics are symptoms of deeper systemic issues like unsustainable production and consumption of plastics, UNEA passed this resolution.

UNEA also mandated the setting up of an Inter-Governmental Negotiating Committee (INC) comprising representatives from member countries. The meeting in Geneva, called INC 5.2, will focus on issues like plastic production, improved product designs to assimilate reuse, phasing out problematic plastics and the toxic chemicals that are used in plastic production.

India’s Dahej dilemma is a complex one. Half the ‘pagadia’ fisherfolk in the Arabia Sea, as they are known, have left fishing and started working in the petrochemical complex because their traditional livelihoods have been destroyed by the toxic effluents from the factory units.

“Cancer, respiratory and skin diseases are widespread in the villages along the coast. People have no option but to work for the same company that snatched their thriving traditional livelihood,” said Usman Gani Sherasiya, secretary of Samast Machimar Samaj, a non-profit working for fishers’ rights in Gujarat.