Single-use Plastic Ban to Effective from 1st July

Table of Contents

Single-use Plastic Ban- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Single-use Plastic is to be banned from 1^st July, 2022. The Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change has now defined a list of single use plastic items that will be banned from next month.

MoFCCC notification said that manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of following single-use plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities shall be prohibited with effect from the 1st July, 2022.
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have announced a ban of-
- Earbuds;
- Balloon sticks;
- Candy and ice-cream sticks;
- Cutlery items including plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, trays;
- Sweet boxes;
- Invitation cards;
- Cigarette packs;
- PVC banners measuring under 100 microns; and
- Polystyrene for decoration.
The Ministry had already banned polythene bags under 75 microns in September 2021, expanding the limit from the earlier 50 microns.
- From December, the ban will be extended to polythene bags under 120 microns.
- While manufacturers can use the same machine for 50- and 75-micron bags, the machinery will need to be upgraded for 120 microns.
According to the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, there is also a complete ban on sachets using plastic material for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala.

About: Single-use Plastic refers to plastic items that are used once and discarded. Single-use plastic has among the highest shares of plastic manufactured.
- A 2021 report by the Minderoo Foundation said single-use plastics account for a third of all plastic produced globally, with 98% manufactured from fossil fuels.
Application: Single-use Plastics are used from packaging of items, to bottles (shampoo, detergents, cosmetics), polythene bags, face masks, coffee cups, cling film, trash bags, food packaging etc.

Single-use plastic accounts for the majority of plastic discarded- 130 million metric tonnes globally in 2019- “all of which is burned, buried in landfills or discarded directly into the environment”.
Green House Gas (GHC): On the current trajectory of production, it has been projected that single-use plastic could account for 5-10% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
High Single use plastic generation in India: The report found that India features in the top 100 countries of single-use plastic waste generation – at rank 94 (the top three being Singapore, Australia and Oman).
- With domestic production of 11.8 million metric tonnes annually, and import of 2.9 MMT, India’s net generation of single-use plastic waste is 5.6 MMT, and per capita generation is 4 kg.

Monitoring Agencies: The ban will be monitored by the CPCB from the Centre, and by the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) that will report to the Centre regularly.
- Directions have been issued at national, state and local levels — for example, to all petrochemical industries — to not supply raw materials to industries engaged in the banned items.
Directions have also been issued to SPCBs and Pollution Control Committees to modify or revoke consent to operate issued under the Air/Water Act to industries engaged in single-use plastic items.
Role of Local Authorities: Local authorities have been directed to issue fresh commercial licenses with the condition that SUP items will not be sold on their premises, and existing commercial licences will be cancelled if they are found to be selling these items.
Last week, the CPCB issued one-time certificates to 200 manufacturers of compostable plastic and the BIS passed standards for biodegradable plastic.

Those found violating the ban can be penalised under the Environment Protection Act 1986 – which allows for imprisonment up to 5 years, or a penalty up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.
Violators can also be asked to pay Environmental Damage Compensation by the SPCB. In addition, there are municipal laws on plastic waste, with their own penal codes.