"Plastics do not litter, people do… Banning plastics and replacing plastic with paper is not helping the country at all,” affirms former industrialist, executive committee member of the Indian Centre for Plastics in Environment (ICPE), and international board member of the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce Phiroze (Philli) Kharas.
Phiroze Kharas (l), Sheroy Katila (r)
Prototype of containers using bio-degradable material from Katila’s concept paper
The discovery of plastics and the subsequent development of plastics applications is a good example of disruptive innovations, the ex chairman of Ecoplast Limited, suppliers of co-extruded polyethylene and co-polymer films, noted in an interview with Parsiana on August 10, 2018. Set up in 1999, ICPE is the nodal agency recognized by the government to handle all issues related to plastics and environment. Member of a panel discussion on "Plastics for Sustaining Development” held at the Bombay Gymkhana on June 8, Kharas noted that the tendency is to judge plastic by the litter in our environment. According to him, studies in class I cities in the country show that plastic waste in municipal solid waste averages only between seven to eight percent.
Based on life cycle analyses studies conducted by Bousted Consulting, USA, Kharas shared some statistics with Parsiana: plastic carry bags consume 40% less energy during production and generate 80% less solid waste after use than paper bags. On the other hand, during production, paper bags generate 70% more air pollutants and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags. A kilo of plastic takes 91% less energy to recycle than an equal amount of paper.
The focus of ICPE is to spread awareness about getting maximum value from plastic waste, said Kharas. Waste plastics are an excellent raw material for tar for roads, while waste from tetrapacks and laminates can make excellent pallets for moving material in factories and benches for schools. "Many times tougher than wood,” he noted. "Everyone must understand that the environmental legacy we leave behind for future generations will depend on our commitment to use products that in comparison with other alternatives create the least burden on the environment,”
Echoing Kharas’ sentiments, industrial and innovation designer Sheroy Katila states, "Plastic is an excellent material, we just use it irresponsibly… the problem is with ‘one time’ use.” Imagine instead snapping the top off the packaging of single-use food and beverage products like ketchup, sugar, salt, pepper, chilli flakes, salad dressings and other condiments, using the contents, and throwing the container into a sink to dissolve without leaving any traces or residue. According to Katila, this is possible. Alternatively, the packaging can be collected in a bin to be remolded and reused, he noted in an interview with Parsiana on July 4. Noting that plastic and plastic derivative material used for packaging "has a life of 500 years,” according to Katila, using sugar based bio-materials that work together, one can "replace plastics in certain contexts.”
A graduate from the Royal College of Art, London, where he attended a dual master’s course in innovation design engineering run in conjunction with Imperial College there, Katila stated that in his final year, he worked on Project Fade — a product concept for packaging that is aesthetic, convenient to use, "and vitally, 100% degradable.” The project, he says, "goes beyond the nominal paper-bag, cloth-bag ethic of how we endanger the environment ourselves.” The engineer is yet to patent the process, while design copyright is pending, he stated. In a detailed note, he explained that "Fade” will "deliver planned obsolescence, reducing man’s mindless, unplanned waste.”
Is the concept workable? "Yes,” he replied, admitting that it is not unique. A company in Hyderabad is making cutlery from millets, he stated. On packaging in general, he pointed out that the computer company Dell uses corn-starch and agar-agar composites for packing its products. "They are capitalizing on a trend. My job as a designer is to take the industry to the next level.”
Calling himself a futurist, Katila explained that ideas that disrupt innovatively take time to reach the market. "Typically (it takes) 20 years and above between the technical innovation, commercial application and the widespread uptake of the material,” according to the executive summary of "Fade” that he shared with Parsiana.
Having done his undergraduate studies in product design from the MIT Institute of Design in Poona, Katila is proud of his family’s design background — great-grandfather Minocher Lakdawala was "an expert craftsman, cabinet maker and exported wooden toys.” Father Feroze, vice president of Forbes Technosys, a company of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group that was "one of the first to introduce self-service kiosks in India.” During a nine-month internship at Godrej Interio, Sheroy was part of a team that successfully designed a suite of functional, cost effective furniture for hostel rooms. Post graduation, he was employed with a multi disciplinary design company where he worked on furniture design and "unconventional larger-than-life metal sculptures.”