Letters: Plastic versus glass

Apropos Nitin Sethi's report, "About-turn: How govt went back on plastic ban" (June 6), all plastic are not the same; Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates are not used in PET bottles. PET products are used the world over and have been approved as safe for food and beverage contact by the US Food and Drug Administration, Health Canada and European Food Safety Authority. In 2015, the World Health Organization's report, "From farm to plate, make food safe", stated that PET was "not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones and it can be recycled".

One aspect that finds frequent mention in the debate about the use and management of plastic is the use of "traditional glass" packaging as a substitute. A study by the Central Food Technological Research Institute reports that about 100 kg of oil is required to produce 1,000 one-litre capacity PET bottles compared to 230 kg of oil for the same number of glass bottles which increases the environmental footprint 2.3 times. This does not even take into account that more fuel is required to transport the much heavier glass bottles once produced. Nor does it account for breakage and wastage costs associated with handling glass.

Are glass bottles 100 per cent safe? Numerous reports show that glass leaches many more metals than PET. One such metal is lead, which affects the central nervous system of humans. Also, glass is not biodegradable.

Dr Smita Bhatia secretary general, PET Packaging Association For Clean Environment

Nitin Sethi replies:

The facts in the report represented the views of different arms of the government, which have not been disputed. The report also relied on data from government agencies.

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