Ban on single-use plastic in India

If you live in a coastal area, chances are that plastic is one of your biggest enemies. And even if you’re not, plastic is still the demon present everywhere. However, India is set to finally impose a much needed nation-wide ban on single-use plastic on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi i.e. 2 October 2019. Before we jump into the government’s move let’s have a look at what single-use plastic is.

What is single-use plastic?

Single-use plastic is a form of plastic that is essentially of a single-use. This means that once used, the single-use plastic item has to be disposable, thrown away or recycled. Some of the most omnipresent single-used items you encounter daily include plastic bags, water and soda bottles, plastic plates, cups, straws and most food packaging and coffee stirrers.

Why can’t we just live with it?

With global communities shifting their attention from conventional issues of politics to modern problems like that of the environment, things like plastic pollution, plastic waste management and environmental degradation have become the key concerns of worry.

The world is producing millions of tons of plastic, which is largely non-biodegradable. Hence it is contributing to humongous amounts of plastic that is contributing to polluting our planet earth. Since only a fraction of these plastic items is recyclable, the rest of it ends up either buried in the land or water bodies, eventually reaching the core of the oceans, causing polluting of water bodies and causing the end of marine life.

For the rest of the plastic that does not end up in the water, it ends up in a huge pile of waste that is hard to dispose off. This huge plastic pile-up is not only affecting the human body but is also choking the environment slowly and slowly.

What is India doing about it?

Though a bit late, but India is now finally in the first phase of its campaign against single-use plastic. Through this campaign, India aims to spread nationwide awareness and education about the harmful effects of single-use plastic. 

In the second phase of the campaign, the government agencies will collect all the single-use plastic items from various sources.

This collection would then facilitate the last phase, where all this plastic will be recycled. Along with this, the government will also be introducing new and stricter penalties for violation of the single-use plastic ban. These will come into effect six months after the ban, in order to give people ample amount of time to adopt alternatives to the single-use plastic items.

Along with the government, many Bollywood celebrities and governmental agencies are advocating the movement against single-use plastic. 

The move

With Coca Cola, Pepsi and other packaged drinks manufacturers being asked to come up with an alternative packaging solution, single-use plastic items are to banned in India from October 2, 2019.

Integrated into the Swatch Bharat Mission, the single-use plastic ban is initially expected to cover six single-use plastic which will include straws, plastic bags, plates, cups, small bottles and certain types of sachets. The ban will cover not only manufacturing but also the usage and import of such items. 

The fate of the movement now depends on the public as well as governmental participation. All of us as individuals can contribute to the cause via little efforts such as replacing plastic bags with jute or paper bags. In the journey towards curbing single-use plastic, India has already taken the first step. Where the journey now leads, is a question that only time will answer.

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