It is slow to degrade.Plastic pollution can unfavorably affect lands, waterways and oceans. Living organisms, particularly marine animals, can also be affected through entanglement, direct ingestion of plastic waste, or through exposure to chemicals within plastics that cause interruptions in biological functions. Humans are also affected by plastic pollution, such as through the disruption of the thyroid hormone axis or hormone levels.

But the plastics industry is poised to benefit from increasing per capita income, rising consumerism and modernization, particularly in urban areas.

The Plastindia Foundation estimates that the demand for polymers to jump to 16.5 million metric tonnes by 2016-17 from 11 million tonnes during 2012-13, resulting in consumption rising by 10.8 percent compound annual growth rate.

India is expected to be among top 10 packaging consumers in the world by 2016 with demand set to reach $24 billion, according to the report.