More Plastic Waste to be banned

More Plastic Waste to be banned

Subject – Environment

Context – Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change has notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021.

Concept –

• In the 4th United Nations Environment Assembly held in 2019, India had piloted a resolution on addressing single-use plastic products pollution, recognizing the urgent need for the global community to focus on this very important issue. The adoption of this resolution at UNEA was a significant step.
• The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of the identified single-use plastic will be prohibited with effect from the 1^st July, 2022.
• The ban will not apply to commodities made of compostable plastic.
• For banning other plastic commodities in the future, other than those that have been listed in this notification, the government has given industry ten years from the date of notification for compliance.
• The permitted thickness of the plastic bags, currently 50 microns, will be increased to 75 microns from 30^th September, 2021, and to 120 microns from the 31^st December, 2022.
• Plastic bags with higher thickness are more easily handled as waste and have higher recyclability.
• Legal Framework for Banning Plastic: Currently, the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, prohibits manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of carry bags and plastic sheets less than 50 microns in thickness in the country.
• Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 amend the 2016 rules.
• Implementing Agency: The Central Pollution Control Board, along with state pollution bodies, will monitor the ban, identify violations, and impose penalties already prescribed under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986.

Single Use Plastics

• Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.
• Plastic is so cheap and convenient that it has replaced all other materials from the packaging industry but it takes hundreds of years to disintegrate.
• If we look at the data, out of46 million tonnes of plastic waste generated every year in our country, 43% is single use plastic.
• Further, Petroleum-based plastic is non biodegradable and usually goes into a landfill where it is buried or it gets into the water and finds its way into the ocean.
• Pollution due to single use plastic items has become an important environmental challenge confronting all countries and India is committed to take action for mitigation of pollution caused by littered Single Use Plastics.
• The Prime Minister of India was also conferred the “champions of the earth” award by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2018 for pledging to eliminate all single-use plastic by 2022.