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Quantifying plastic waste generation in Aizawl city, India: waste management and its impact on human and environmental health

  • Microplastic Pollutants in Terrestrial and Aquatic Environment
  • Published:
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Abstract

Plastic wastes in recent years have become a menace owing to population pressure and high demand of various plastic products in daily use. A study was conducted in Aizawl city of northeast India for a period of 3 years to quantify various types of plastic wastes. Our study found that a present plastic consumption of 13.06 g/capita/day although low when compared to developed countries continues; the generation will be doubled after a decade as the population is projected to double specially due to migration from rural areas. The plastic waste was contributed more by the high-income group of the population with a correlation factor of r = 0.97. Among the total plastic waste, packaging plastics contributed maximum with an average of 52.56% and carry bags among the packaging contribute maximum with 32.55% in the three sectors, namely, residential, commercial, and dumping sites. The result leads to a maximum contribution by the LDPE polymer with 27.46% among seven categories of polymers.

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The paper contains all data. However, additional data may be provided upon reasonable requests from the corresponding author, after publication of the paper.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the households for their cooperation and sharing unbiased data that formed this research. Aizawl Municipality also provided some information pertaining to frequency of waste collection and location of dumping sites.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Mizoram University, Mizoram, India

    Anil Pratap Singh & Angom Sarjubala Devi

  2. Department of Forestry, Mizoram University, Mizoram, India

    Uttam Kumar Sahoo

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  1. Anil Pratap Singh
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  2. Angom Sarjubala Devi
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  3. Uttam Kumar Sahoo
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Contributions

APS conducted the field survey and data collection; ASD and UKS analyzed the data; APS, ASD, and UKS prepared the first draft; UKS revised the final draft; all authors have read the revised manuscript and participated in the final revision and agreed to submit the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Uttam Kumar Sahoo.

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The research does not involve any animals and plants, and therefore, ethics approval is not applicable.

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Yes.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Singh, A.P., Devi, A.S. & Sahoo, U.K. Quantifying plastic waste generation in Aizawl city, India: waste management and its impact on human and environmental health. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 107390–107402 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27513-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27513-0

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