Ban on single-use plastic to have little impact on jobs in the industry

Overall employment in the sector makes up just one month's addition to the Indian workforce; larger issue is getting the low-income user to adopt friendlier albeit costlier alternatives

Strange as it may seem, there is unlikely to be a massive negative impact on employment in the plastic industry following the phase out of the single-use variant of the material in India. The plastic industry itself estimates total direct employment in recycling units at close to 600,000 nationwide. Add to them about one million waste pickers in an industry that recycles close to 5.5 metric million tonnes of the substance annually, and the number you get is just one month’s addition to the Indian workforce.

The Indian plastic industry has been, to some extent, prepared for the phase-out, though