Modi renews call to shun single-use plastic by 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said plastic is a major threat to sanitation and conservation of animal and environment and renew his call for stopping the use of single-use plastic by 2022.

"Sanitation, conservation of environment and animals, all these things were dear to Gandhi ji. Plastic is a major threat to all of them. So, we have to achieve the goal to end usage of single-use plastic' from the country by the year 2022," Modi said at an event here.

Modi said shunning single-use plastic will not only benefit the environment, but also help solve the problem of drainage chocking. "It will also save animals and ocean creatures," he said.

The Prime Minister said the goal of ending the use of single-use plastic by 2022 thought "behavioural change" which he called the key to success.

Hailing "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan", Modi said the government provided toilets to over 60 crore people in 60 months, constructing over 11 crore toilets in the period.

He quoted a UNICEF report to claim that the m mission has positively impacted the economy worth Rs 20 lakh crore. "As many as 75 lakh jobs have been created under the mission. The mission has positively affected people's productivity, impacting lives of women," Modi said.

Declaring rural India defecation-free, the Prime Minister said: "Today rural India and its villages have declared themselves 'open defecation free."

He said the whole world is celebrating Bapu's birth anniversary and remembering his ideals.

Modi in his Independence Day speech had called the countrymen to shun single-use plastic starting October 2.