A Study on the Plastic Waste and Environmental Degradation

Abstract

Plastic waste component of the urban solid waste is quite problematic. As it is non-biodegradable, it can stay in the environment for a longer time causing severe environmental degradation. Unless it is properly disposed of, environmental degradation is unavoidable. The environmental degradation would potentially harm the human and biological wealth. The study has made an attempt to understand the extent of usage of plastic materials and the mode of disposal thereof by the people. It is an empirical study based upon the data collected from the Tiruchirappalli City of Tamil Nadu, India. The data collected for the study are from 515 residents of the city who are selected through multi-stage random sampling method. The first step is, identification of wards (the sub divisions of the Zone of an urban community in India) from the zones of the city and secondly, the identification of households at random. From the selected households, the researcher identified the available senior most adult members as the respondents and by using the tool of interview-schedule, (a tool which is having a set of questions can be employed among literate and illiterate respondents for the collection of primary data) the data collected from them. The disposal pattern of each income group is having association with the attitude towards the disposal and the level of environmental awareness.