Indian govt to ban single use plastic items from 1 July

|HT|

In a bid to phase out single-use plastic items by 2022, the Centre on Tuesday announced India will ban the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of identified single-use plastic items with low utility and high littering potential from July 1, 2022. The ministry of environment, forest and climate change said in a release that control rooms will be set up at the national and state level for effective enforcement of the ban on identified single-use plastic items. Special enforcement teams will also be formed for checking the illegal manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of banned single-use plastic items, according to the ministry. The ministry added that states and Union Territories have been asked to set up border checkpoints to stop the inter-state movement of any banned single-use plastic items.

“The adverse impacts of littered single use plastic items plastic on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including in marine environment are globally recognized. Addressing pollution due to single use plastic items has become an important environmental challenge confronting all countries,” the release said. The list of banned single-use plastic items includes - earbuds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene (Thermocol) for decoration, plastic plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 micron, stirrers. The Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, has already prohibited manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of plastic carry bags with thickness less than seventy five microns. It also provides for ban on plastic carry bags having thickness less than thickness of one hundred and twenty microns with effect from the December 31, 2022.

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