India moves to ban some disposable plastics to reduce waste

Indiawill have somedisposable or disposable on Friday as part of a federal program to phase out ubiquitous materials in nearly 1.4 countries. Banned plastic products. Billion people.

In the first place, we identified 19 plastic products that are not very useful but are likely to be garbage and make manufacturing, importing, inventory, distribution and sales illegal.

These items range from plastic cups and straws to ice cream sticks. Some disposable plastic bags will also be phased out and replaced with thicker ones.

Thousands of other plastic products, such as bottles of water and soda, bags of chips, are not subject to the ban. However, the federal government has set the goal that manufacturers are responsible for recycling or disposing of them after use.

Read more:The ban on disposable plastics affects our health. This is what we know

Plastic makers blame inflation and potential unemployment I appealed to the government to postpone the ban. However, India's Federal Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said at a press conference in New Delhi that the ban had been in the pipeline for a year.

"It's time," he said.

This is not the first time India has considered a plastic ban. However, previous iterations focused on specific areas, so the degree of success varied.

A national ban, not only on the use of plastic, but also its production or import, was a "certain boost", said Satyarupa Shekhar, Asia-Pacific coordinator of advocacy group Break Free from Plastic.

Most plastics are not recycled worldwide, and millions of tonnes of people pollute the world's oceans, affect wildlife and are contained in drinking water. Scientists are trying to assess the risks posed by a small portion of broken plastic, known as microplastics.

By 2020, 4.1 million metric tons (4.5 million US tons) Exceeding plastic waste has been generated in India. According to its federal pollution monitoring agency.

Creepy Waste Management System In the country's fast-growing cities and villages, much of this waste is not recycled and pollutes the environment.

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Approximately 13 million metric tons (According to 14 million Our World in Data, tons of US in 2019) plastic waste was either discarded or not recycled by South Asian countries. This is the highest number in the world.

Manufacturing plastics releases warm greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. India has a factory that manufactures over 243,000 metric tons (268,000 US tons) of disposable plastics each year.

It is important to reduce plastic production and consequent waste in order for India to achieve its goal of reducing emissions in economic activity by 45% in eight years. Means there is.

Recent studies have identified over 8,000 chemical additives used in plastic processing. Some of them are 1000 times more powerful than greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. Products such as disposable packaging, plastic resins, foamed plastic insulation, bottles and containers increase global greenhouse gas emissions, among other things.

Read more: Canada's disposable plastics ban the "first step" in reducing waste. What's next?

Most plastics are non-recyclable, only downgraded and often incinerated or used as fuel for waste power plants known as chemical recycling. Plastics have three to four times the fuel value of scrap, but these recycling processes release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and enhance the greenhouse effect.

"This is too small given the scale of the plastic crisis, and both in its scope and scope. Too few, "Shekhar said.

Ravi Agarwal, director of Toxics Link, a New Delhi-based advocacy group focused on waste management, said the ban was a "good start", but how well it succeeded. He added that it depends on what is being done. ..

The actual enforcement of the law is in the hands of individual state and city municipalities.

India said banned items have been identified with the availability of alternatives such as bamboo spoons, plantain trays and wooden ice cream sticks in mind. But in the days leading up to the ban, many vendors said they were confused.

Moti Rahman, 40 years old is his New Delhi vegetable seller. Customers in his cart carefully selected fresh summer ingredients on Tuesday and put them in plastic bags.

Rahman said he agreed to the ban, but plastic bags are readily available and equally cost-effective replacements If stopped without, his business will be affected.

"After all, plastic is used for everything," he said.

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