From July 1st, the Centre will prohibit the use of single-use plastic. The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change informs about the ban via a notification in the gazette last year itself. Now they have outlined a list of things that will be prohibited from the beginning of the next month.
The Ministry says, the manufacturing, import, stocking, distribution, trade, and use of single-use plastic goods, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, will not be permissible from July 1, 2022.
Why single-use plastic items particularly?
According to the ministry, the selection of the initial batch of single-use plastic goods for the ban was based on the difficulty of collecting and hence recycling.
The enemy is not plastic in and of itself, but plastic in the environment. When plastic remains in the environment for an extended period and does not get disposed of properly, it degrades into microplastics, which infiltrate the food supplies and subsequently the dangerous human body.
“Unlike much larger chunks of plastic, single-use plastic items are difficult to gather, especially because most of them are tiny or tossed straight into the environment which makes recycling of these products even more tedious,” says a Ministry official.
Satish Sinha from Toxic Links describes the items chosen as “low-hanging fruit”. “Of the single-use plastic industry, the production and sale of these items is miniscule. The largest share of single-use plastic is that of packaging with as much as 95% of single-use belonging to this category from toothpaste to shaving cream to frozen foods. The items chosen are of low value and of low turnover and are unlikely to have a big economic impact, which could be a contributing reason.” He also says that we do need to start with something, and it is a beginning.
How will the ban work?
The CPCB will monitor the whole process. While the States Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), will report to the Centre regularly. National, state, and municipal authorities have set directives, for example, petrochemical firms will not supply raw materials to enterprises involved in the prohibited commodities.
SPCBs and Pollution Control Committees will also alter the consent to operate grant under the Air/Water Act for enterprises producing single-use plastic goods. Local governments will give new commercial licenses with the provision of the ban on sales of SUP products on their premises. The current commercial licenses will be revoked if they are found selling these products.
Last week the CPCB gave one-time certifications to 200 compostable plastic makers, while the BIS approved biodegradable plastic standards.
Those who violate the prohibition face penalties under the Environment Protection Act of 1986. Under which they can get sentenced to imprisonment for up to 5 years, or a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.
Violators will have to pay Environmental Damage Compensation by the SPCB. In addition, there are municipal laws on plastic waste, with their penal codes.
The article was first published in The Indian Express.