Single Use Plastic

Why in News?

• CPCB has undertaken various measures to implement India’s commitment to ban identified Single Use Plastic items.

About

Single Use plastic (SUP):

• Single-use plastics, includes those plastic products that can be used only for one-time use before being discarded

• Single-use plastic items include plastic bags (mostly less than 50 microns), water bottles, straws, coffee stirrers, cups, food and drug packaging plastic etc

Measures undertaken to discourage the use of SUPs

• According to Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2016, there is a complete ban on the use of packets which use plastic material for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala

• Further, a recent notification prohibits manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of the following identified single use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential with effect from the 1st July, 2022

  • These include earbuds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene [Thermocol] for decoration, plates, cups, glasses, cutlery among others

• To curb the supply of these items, directions have been issued at national, state and local level to leading petrochemical industries to not supply plastic raw materials to the industries engaged in banned SUP production