India to ban single-use plastic from 1 July

Single use plastic will be banned in India from 1 July, a government release said on Tuesday. The release issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) further said that manufacturing, import, stocking, distribution, and sale of identified single use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential, will be banned.

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"The adverse impacts of littered single use plastic items on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including in marine environments, are globally recognized. Addressing pollution due to single use plastic items has become an important environmental challenge confronting all countries," said MoEFCC in a press release.

Here is the list of all the things that have been banned from 1 July

Earbuds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice- cream sticks, polystyrene (Thermocol) for decoration, plastic plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packaging films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 micron, stirrers.

Apart from that, for effective implementation of the ban on identified SUP items from 1 July 2022, national and state level control rooms will be set up and special enforcement teams will be formed for checking illegal manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of banned single use plastic items.

States and Union Territories have also been asked to set up border checkpoints to stop inter-state movement of any banned single use plastic items.

Furthermore, the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, have already prohibited manufacturing, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of plastic carry bags having thickness less than 75 microns with effect from 30 September, 2021, and having thickness less than thickness of one hundred and twenty microns with effect from the 31 December, 2022, said the press release.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has also notified the guidelines on Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) on plastic packaging as Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2022 on 16th February, 2022