A retrograde step: New rules for plastic waste dilute earlier norms

The notable provisions of the 2016 rules that have been tinkered with include phasing out of multi-layered plastics

Just days ahead of this year’s Earth Day (April 22), on the theme of ending plastic pollution, the government came out with the new Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2018. However, these may actually cause the menace to spike rather than curbing it. The new norms seem to have been crafted with an eye on ease of doing business for manufacturers, recyclers and users of plastic at the cost of the environment and public health. Several stringent and sound provisions of the earlier plastic waste management policy of 2016 have either been discarded or substantially diluted. Hardly has anything been