India to ban many single-use plastics by July 2022
Canadian Plastics
Packaging SustainabilityThe ban will include foodservice items such as plates, cups, straws, trays, and cutlery.
Photo Credit: Adobe Stock/V.R.Murralinath
India’s central government has announced plans to phase out many single-use plastic items by 2022.
In a new amendment to its Plastic Waste Management Rules, the country’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has introduced a new set of guidelines called “Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021”.
In an Aug. 13 statement, MoEFCC said that single-use plastic items which have “low utility and high littering potential” are now being phased out, and will be completely banned from July 1, 2022.
The banned items include ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene for decoration, plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners of less than 100 microns, and stirrers.
In addition, the thickness of plastic carry bags will be increased from 50 to 75 microns from Sept. 30, 2021, and to 120 microns from Dec. 31, 2022. This will also allow the plastic carry bags to be reused, MoEFCC stated.
The provisions will not apply to commodities made of compostable plastic, the statement said.
India generates an estimated 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste per day and approximately 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste per year. In June 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that India will eliminate all single-use plastics in the country by 2022.
