Topic of the day: Single-Use Plastic Ban Comes Into Effect In India: Here’s What That Means For Us

India has announced a ban on all manufacture, sale, and use of single-use plastics from July 1, 2022, to tackle the plastic pollution problem in the country. Single-use plastics, also called disposable plastics, are mainly used as packaging items that should be thrown out or recycled after one-time use Why the ban? India is among the top 100 nations contributing to single-use plastic waste generation. Earthday.org published a report that said humans use around 1.2 million plastic bottles per minute and around 500 billion plastic cups yearly. Single-use plastics are not biodegradable. They are unsustainable and remain in the environment for hundreds of years. They do not decay and cannot be burned, as they release hazardous fumes and gases into the atmosphere. In due course, sun and heat slowly turn plastics into tiny pieces called microplastics, which will find their way into food sources and eventually enter the human body. Banning single-use plastics is a step toward reducing overall plastic waste generation. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 300 million tons of plastic are produced in the world every year, out of which 14 million tons end up in the ocean. As per data from the Ministry of Environment, in FY 2019–20, around 34 lakh tons of plastic waste were generated in India. A Few Items That Are Banned • Cutlery items including plastic plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, straws, stirrers, and trays • Plastic shopping bags, food packaging, and grocery bags • Plastic material packaging used for gutkha, tobacco, and pan masala • Balloon sticks • Earbuds with plastic sticks • Plastic flags • Polystyrene for decoration • PVC banners measuring under 100 microns • Wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, cigarette packets