New Delhi: India will ban the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of identified single-use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential, all across the country from July 1, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change informed on Tuesday. Post this, the ministry defined a list of items that will be banned from next month. “The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of following single-use plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities shall be prohibited with effect from the 1st July 2022,” the Ministry said.
Items To Be Banned From July 1:
- Balloon sticks
- Cigarette packs
- Cutlery items including plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, trays
- Earbuds
- Sweet boxes
- Invitation cards
- Cigarette packs
- PVC banners measuring under 100 microns
How will the plastic ban be enforced from July?
The Single-use plastic ban will be monitored by the CPCB and the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), who will report to the Centre on a regular basis. Reports suggest that the CPCB has issued directions at the national, state, and local levels in order to not supply raw materials to industries that engage in banned items.
The CPCB has also ordered local authorities to issue fresh commercial licenses with the condition that SUP items will not be sold on their premises. More importantly, existing commercial licences will be cancelled if they are found to be selling the banned items.
What is Single Use Plastic?
Single use plastic refers to the plastic items that are once used and discarded. Single use plastic has also among the highest shares of plastic manufactured and used- from the packaging of items to bottles, face masks, polythene bags, cling film, coffee cups, food packaging, and trash bags, etc.
As per the report published in 2021, the single use plastics account for a third of all plastic produced globally, with 98% manufactured from fossil fuels.
Single use plastic also accounts for the majority of plastic discarded-130 million metric tonnes globally in 2019.
According to the report, India features in the top 100 countries of single use plastic waste generation, at the rank of 94 (the top three are- Singapore, Australia and Oman).
Source: india.com
