Under the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2021, India’s single-use plastic (SUP) phase-out plan would take effect in July 2022. It will prohibit the use of plastic in a range of applications. However, This is not the first time single use plastic is banned.
The Plastic Waste Management Rules was published in 2021. It suggests the framework for extended producer responsibility (EPR) for plastic packaging waste. This included numerous progressive elements.
While regulations are designed with sincerity, their execution has proven to be a failure.
Effect of Covid-19:
The COVID-19 pandemic added to the difficulty of enforcing the single-use plastics ban, as health and safety concerns grew. Failure to regulate plastics has resulted in poorly managed plastic waste entering rivers and oceans, posing a threat to ecosystems as well as human health. Plastic waste from the river Ganga into the ocean is among the highest in the world contributing to almost 8.19% of plastic waste by mass in the ocean. Public awareness programs are an important tool for ensuring public involvement in waste management. They are unquestionably significant in motivating citizens to ask the government to make an effort to phase out commonly used plastics. However, moving people from awareness to action when it comes to reducing their use of plastic, possibly the most frequent substance in our lives, is difficult.
Conclusion:
The issue that has to be addressed is the amount of needless plastic created. Supermarkets must stop using plastic that is intended to be discarded as soon as the package is opened. Ensuring not only plastic is recyclable, but also determining whether the packaging is even necessary. It is no longer required to travel to Africa to comprehend the world’s plight. We witness it in the form of dangerous plastic pollution, declining biodiversity, and degraded landscapes on our streets and screens. Banishing plastic completely from our lives isn’t possible, however, reducing its use is. Therefore, one can say, plastic is more or less a necessary evil in today’s times and we need to gradually work on it.