Ineffective implementation: Ban on single-use plastic is not working

The menace of plastic pollution cannot be mitigated without ensuring plastic-product manufacturers' stringent compliance with the extended producer responsibility

The ban on single-use plastic, which came into effect on July 1 this year, seems to have remained largely on paper. Most of these items, including plastic straws and cutlery, are being marketed and used routinely in most places. The phasing out of these products with limited utility but high littering potential was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address in 2019. However, the needed follow-up action has not come forth in full measure. Even in the states where the orders on prohibiting the manufacturing, distribution and use of these items have been notified, these are not being strictly enforced. Worse still, the concept of extended producer responsibility to ensure sound management of plastic products till the end of their serviceable life has failed to produce the desired results for want of effectively monitoring its implementation.

Consequently, the bulk of the used and discarded plastic products are either being thrown away randomly, littering roads and blocking drains to cause water-logging, or being disposed of in a most environment-unfriendly manner of open burning, spewing highly toxic fumes. A sizable part of this waste ends up in landfills to remain there for ages. More worryingly, part of it also finds its way to water bodies, including rivers and seas, adversely affecting aquatic life and biodiversity. The banned use-and-throw stuff includes items like ear-buds, balloons and flags with plastic sticks, ice-cream sticks, plastic straws and cutlery, polystyrene (thermocol), wrapping and packaging films, cigarette packets, and sachets of gutka, tobacco and pan masala. Plastic carry bags of less than 75-micron thickness were outlawed long ago but are still being used, especially by street vendors and small shopkeepers. The deadline for phasing out bags of slightly thicker material of up to 120 microns is December 31, 2022. However, with business as usual, even this target seems unlikely to be met.

Given that India had piloted the resolution on addressing the single-use plastic pollution issue in the United Nations Environment Assembly in 2019, New Delhi was expected to take the lead in doing so. However, while as many as 77 countries are reported to have imposed a full or partial ban on several hazardous plastic products, notably plastic bags, India remains a laggard in this field. Some countries had, in fact, stopped using select plastic material even before the passage of this resolution — Kenya in Africa and Bangladesh in Asia being the notable cases in point. While Kenya had barred the use of plastic carry bags in 2017, Bangladesh did so way back in 2002. Many other countries have put in place systems to return the used plastic products back to the producers for appropriate recycling or safe disposal.

India needs to emulate these countries in ensuring plastic-product manufacturers’ stringent compliance with the extended producer responsibility. According to industry estimates, more than half the plastic waste consists of products of 30-odd corporate houses. If they can be made to fulfil their legal responsibility to facilitate proper recycling or eliminating the used products, the menace of plastic pollution can be mitigated to a great extent. But that does not warrant any laxity on pursuing the ban on identified plastic products.