Government to enforce strict ban on identified Single Use Plastic items from July 1

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 28

India will ban the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of identified single-use plastic items with low utility and high littering potentialall across the country from July 1.

States and Union Territories have been asked to set up border checkpoints to stop inter-state movement of any banned single use plastic items.

For effective enforcement of ban on identified SUP items, national and state level control rooms will be set up and special enforcement teams will be formed for checking illegal manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of banned single use plastic items, according to Environment Ministry officials.

Capacity building workshops are being organised for MSME units to provide them technical assistance for manufacturing of alternatives to banned single use plastic items with the involvement of CPCB/SPCBs/PCCs along with Ministry of Small Micro and Medium Enterprises and Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering (CIPET) and their state centres, they added.

Provisions have also been made to support such enterprises in transitioning away from banned single use plastics.

“India has also taken steps to promote innovation and provide an ecosystem for accelerated penetration and availability of alternatives all across the country. The success of the ban will only be possible through effective engagement and concerted actions by all stakeholders and enthusiastic public participation,” they said.

The list of banned items include—ear buds 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 adverse impacts of littered SUP and plastic items both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including in marine environments are globally recognised. Addressing pollution due to single use plastic items has become an important environmental challenge confronting all countries.

India’s Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, also prohibit manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of plastic carry bags having thickness less than 75 microns with effect from September 30, 2021, and having thickness less than thickness of 120 microns with effect from December 31, 2022.

The Ministry also notified guidelines on Extended Producers Responsibility on plastic packaging as Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2022, in February.

EPR is the responsibility of a producer for the environmentally sound management of the product until the end of its life.

The guidelines will provide framework to strengthen circular economy of plastic packaging waste, promote development of new alternatives to such packaging and provide next steps for moving towards sustainable packaging by businesses, officials added.

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