UPSC daily Current Affairs -24 July 2025/ National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE), 2024:

Plastic Industry and the Tobacco Industry: A Parallel of Deception

 Introduction:

At first glance, tobacco and plastic may appear unrelated, but both industries have adopted similar tactics to maximize profit while ignoring environmental and health harms. Activists and researchers are increasingly drawing attention to how the plastic industry mirrors the tobacco industry’s playbook.

 Key Similarities: Plastic vs. Tobacco Industries

1. Shifting Responsibility to Individuals

• Tobacco: Promotions often include disclaimers like “Smoking is injurious to health”, placing the burden on personal choice while ignoring systemic marketing and lobbying.

• Plastic: Industries blame consumers for not recycling, deflecting attention from corporate accountability and lack of scalable infrastructure.

• Effect: Systematic harm is recast as personal failure in both cases.

2. Funding Misleading PR and Science

• Tobacco: Funded studies to deny links between smoking and health risks.

• Plastic: As per NPR and PBS reports:

  • From the 1980s, the industry promoted recycling publicly, but privately acknowledged its impracticality.

  • Most plastic still ends up being burned, landfilled, or dumped, not recycled.

3. Greenwashing

• Tobacco: Marketed “light” and “mild” cigarettes as healthier options.

• Plastic: Promotes “biodegradable” or “compostable” plastic despite:

  • Lack of standards

  • Inadequate infrastructure to actually process these materials

• Result: False environmental assurances to consumers.

Targeting the Global South

• Why? As regulations tighten in the Global North, producers shift to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

• OECD 2022 Report:

  • Plastic use to double in Sub-Saharan Africa, triple in Asia by 2060.

  • In contrast, only 15% growth in Europe.

• Weak regulations + poor waste management = Higher vulnerability to plastic pollution.

• UN Treaty Negotiations:

  • Fossil fuel and plastic lobbyists influencing talks.

  • INC-3 saw 36% more lobbyists than previous round (as per Centre for International Environmental Law).

 India’s Status on Plastic Pollution

1. Waste Management: Informal Sector Backbone

• 70% of plastic recycling is done by informal workers (ragpickers, sorters, recyclers).

• Face:

  • Toxic exposure

  • No protective gear

  • Health risks

  • Lack of legal/social security

  • Poverty

2. Government Intervention:

• National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (2024):

  • Aims to integrate informal waste workers.

  • Provides:

    • Safety equipment

    • Health insurance (Ayushman Bharat)

    • Social security

  • As of May 2025: Over 80,000 workers profiled.

3. Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 (Amended 2022):

• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): Manufacturers must take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of the plastic they generate.

• Focus on:

  • Reduction

  • Segregation

  • Collection

  • Recycling

  • Environmentally sound disposal

About National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE), 2024:

NAMASTE is a central government scheme launched in 2023 to mechanise hazardous sanitation work and formalise the employment of sanitation workers and waste pickers. It is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Objectives

• Achieve zero fatalities in hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.

• Ensure full mechanisation of sanitation work.

• Formalise employment of sanitation workers and waste pickers.

• Promote sanitation entrepreneurship (sanitpreneurs).

• Provide social security, health insurance, and livelihood support to workers.

 Key Features:

1. Target Groups:

• Sewer and septic tank workers (SSWs)

• Waste pickers (included from FY 2024–25)

2. Worker Profiling:

• Enumeration and skill profiling of workers across 4,800+ Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).

• Use of a digital app to register workers and track benefits.

3. Safety & Health Measures:

• Distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits.

• Setting up Emergency Response Sanitation Units (ERSUs).

• Provision of health insurance under Ayushman Bharat – PMJAY.

4. Livelihood & Entrepreneurship:

• Skill training for mechanised sanitation work.

• Capital subsidy (up to ₹5 lakh) for purchase of sanitation and waste collection vehicles.

• Support for self-employment through sanitation-based micro-enterprises.

5. Waste Picker Inclusion (from 2024–25):

• Specific training and PPE kits tailored to dry waste management.

• Capital assistance linked to Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs).

• Awareness campaigns on occupational health and safety