As the ban on certain single-use plastic items kicks in from Friday, July 1, state governments will initiate an enforcement campaign and close down units engaging in production, distribution, stocking and sale of such items, the Union government said. Violation of the ban will invite punitive action, including a fine or a jail term or both, detailed under Section 15 of the Environment Protection Act (EPA) and under bylaws of respective municipal corporations, Ministry of Environment officials said.
On August 12 last year, the ministry had issued a notification prohibiting manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single-use plastic (SUP) commodities, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene from July 1, 2022. Here are the items that will be banned as per the new orders:
> Earbuds
> Plastic sticks for balloons, flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks,
> Polystyrene (thermocol)
> Plastic plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, straws and trays
> Wrapping or packaging films around sweets boxes
> Invitation cards
> Cigarette packets
> Plastic or PVC banners of less than 100 microns
> Stirrers.
For effective enforcement of the ban, national and state-level control rooms have been set up and special enforcement teams formed to check illegal manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of banned SUP items, officials in the ministry said. States and Union Territories have been asked to set up border checkpoints to stop the interstate movement of any banned SUP items.
Officials said plastic used for packaging in the FMCG sector is not banned but will be covered under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) guidelines. The EPR is a producer's responsibility to ensure environmentally-sound management of the product until the end of its life.
According to the CPCB, India generates around 2.4 lakh tonnes of SUP per annum. The per capita SUP production is 0.18 kg per year.