In a move to save environment from the menace of plastic pollution, the Centre has issued guidelines asking states to ban the use of ‘single-use plastic’ from July 1, 2022. Single-use plastic refers to items that are used only once and are discarded after their immediate use. Single-use plastic constitutes the highest share of plastic manufactured and used — from packaging of items, to bottles, polythene bags, face masks, coffee cups, trash bags, food packaging etc. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) states that around the world, one million plastic bottles are purchased every minute, while up to five trillion plastic bags are used worldwide every year. In total, half of all plastic produced is designed for single-use purposes – to be used just once and then thrown away.
In a bid to tackle the growing crisis of waste generated from single-use-plastic, the Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change had issued the notification last year in August announcing a ban on single-use plastic beginning July 2022. The ministry along with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) now has come out with detailed guidelines on what will be banned from the market starting July 1 and the penalty associated with it. The notification said, “The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of single-use plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities like cutlery items including plates, cups, glasses to name a few shall be prohibited with effect from the July 1, 2022.’’
List Of Items That Will Be Banned From July 1, 2022
According to the notification following items will be banned:
– Balloon sticks
– Cigarette packs
– Cutlery items including plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, trays – Earbuds
– Sweet boxes
– Candy and ice cream sticks
– Invitation cards
– Polystyrene for decoration
– PVC banners measuring under 100 microns
Why Banning Single-Use Plastic Is Important?
UN Environment Programme states that since the 1970s, the rate of plastic production has grown faster than that of any other material. It adds that if historic growth trends continue, global production of primary plastic is forecasted to reach 1,100 million tonnes by 2050. It says that approximately 36 per cent of all plastics produced are used in packaging, including single-use plastic products for food and beverage containers, approximately 85 per cent of which ends up in landfills or as unregulated waste. Additionally, some 98 per cent of single-use plastic products are produced from fossil fuel. The level of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production, use and disposal of conventional fossil fuel-based plastics is forecasted to grow to 19 per cent of the global carbon budget by 2040.
Environment ministry adds that plastic waste poses a big threat to the environment as it remains in the environment for long duration of time and does not decay, eventually turning into microplastics, which first enters our food sources and then the human body. According to Plastic Soup Foundation, an organisation that was founded in 2011 with the goal to make everyone familiar with the phenomenon of plastic soup and to stop it at its source, states that plastic has already entered our food chain. It also adds that animals carry microplastics in their bodies, when they are themselves eaten, those microplastics are also ingested. This process is called ‘trophic transfer’ of microplastics. Since one animal eats another, microplastics can move through the food chain.
Moreover, plastic neither decomposes nor can be burned as it releases noxious fumes and hazardous gases during the process. Thus, storing plastic items remains the only feasible solution besides recycling. The official data by the Environment Ministry adds that over 34 lakh tonnes of plastic waste was generated in 2019-20 up from 30.59 lakh tonnes in 2018-19 in India.
Keeping the statistics in mind, the government has taken the step of banning such plastic items this will also help the government to trim its plastic waste generation but it all depends on how effectively the ban will be implemented.
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