About the ban on single-use plastics: Plastic Challenge 

News: The GoI notified the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2021 in August last year. It prohibits 20 single-use plastic items by 2022. 

About the rules 2021 

Various single-use plastic items will be banned from 1 July 2022, including ubiquitous plastic cutleries. 

However, plastic carry bags having a thickness of less than 120 microns will be banned from the end of December. 

Why is plastic a cause of concern? 

The CPCB had estimated that India generates around 9,200 metric tonnes of plastic waste daily. This is most likely a gross underestimation. 

Tonnes of plastic waste is dumped at landfills or out into the open oceans.  

They disintegrate into tiny microplastics and find their way into marine life or terrestrial animals.  

The microplastic eventually enters the human food chain, causing a lot of health problems  

Whether the nationwide single-use plastic ban beginning from today will be an effective counteraction?  

The scope of the ban is too small. Even the current efforts are unlikely to succeed in a meaningful way. 

The problem is that alternatives to everyday plastic items are far more expensive. For example, paper straws cost five times as much as plastic straws.  

The single-use plastic ban is likely to hurt small vendors and manufacturers disproportionately.  

At present, inflation levels are very high, therefore, the users might breach the ban.  

What should be done?

The government should work with the plastic industry to foster innovation and boost the production of compostable plastics.  

The GOI should support the creation of an entire waste management system around compostable plastics. It should start from labelling to setting up industrial composting units.  

Source: The post is based on the article “Plastic Challenge” published in The Times of India on 30th June 2022.