NEW DELHI aEUR India has banned single-use and disposable plastic products Friday in a part of a federal plan that will phase out this ubiquitous material in India, which is home to nearly 1.4 billion people.
It has identified 19 items of plastic that aren’t very useful, but could become litter. This makes it illegal to manufacture, import, stock, distribute, or sell them. These items include plastic cups, straws, and ice cream sticks. Also, disposable plastic bags will be phased out and replaced by thicker bags.
The ban doesn’t apply to thousands of other plastic products, such as bottles of water or soda, or bags of chips. However, the federal government has established targets for manufacturers to recycle or dispose of these products after they are used.
The ban was being considered by plastic manufacturers who appealed for the government to delay it, citing inflation and possible job losses. At a New Delhi press conference, Bhupender Yadav, India’s federal environment minister, stated that the ban was in the works for one year.
He said, “Now that the time is over.”
India has been considering a ban on plastics before. Previous iterations of the plastic ban have been limited to specific areas, with varying degrees success. Satyarupa Shakta, Asia-Pacific coordinator for Break Free from Plastic, said that a nationwide ban on plastic use, as well as its production and importation, was a “definite boost.”
Plastic isn’t widely recycled and millions of tons pollute the oceans and impact wildlife. Scientists continue to study the dangers posed by microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic that have been broken down. According to India’s federal pollution watchdog, more than 4.1 million tonnes (4.5 million U.S. tonnes) of plastic waste were generated in India in 2020.
Many of the waste ends up in the environment because of the poor waste management system in the country’s growing cities and villages. According to Our World in Data, nearly 13 million tons of plastic waste (14 million U.S. tonnes) were either littered by South Asia in 2019, which was the highest in the entire world.
Plastic production releases greenhouse gases that cause global warming. India has over 243,000 metric tonnes (268,000 U.S. ton) of plastic disposable each year. India must reduce the production and subsequent waste of plastic if it is to achieve its goal of reducing emissions by 45% within eight years.
Recent research has identified more than 8,000 chemical additives for plastic processing. Some of these chemicals are 1,000 times more potent than greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Global greenhouse emissions are caused by products such as single-use packaging, plastic resins and foamed insulation.
Plastic cannot be recycled. It can only be downgraded. Most plastic is incinerated or used to fuel waste-to-energy plants. This is sometimes called chemical recycling. Plastics can be used to make fuel three to four times more than scrap. However, recycling releases more carbon dioxide into the air, which increases the greenhouse effect.
“Given the scale of the plastic crisis this is far too little. Shekhar said that it is too limited in both its coverage and scope.
Ravi Agarwal (director of Toxics Link), a New Delhi-based advocacy organization that focuses on waste management, said that while the ban was a “good beginning”, its success will hinge on how it is implemented. Individual states and local municipal authorities will have to enforce the law.
India claimed that the banned items had been identified, while considering the availability of alternative products: bamboo spoons and plantain tray, wooden ice cream sticks, and bamboo spoons. Many vendors claimed that they were still confused in the days before the ban.
Moti Rahman (40), is a New Delhi vegetable vendor. His customers carefully selected fresh summer produce from his cart Tuesday before he placed them in a plastic bag. Rahman stated that he supports the ban but warned that his business would be affected if there is no readily available, equally cost-effective, replacement.
He said, “After all plastic is used in every thing.”
