CENTRE BANS SINGLE USE PLASTIC ITEMS FROM JULY 1

New Delhi, Aug. 13: The Centre has notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, prohibiting manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single-use plastic (SUP) items, including candy sticks, plates, cups and cutlery, from July 1, 2022.

The thickness of plastic carry bags will be increased from 50 microns to

75 microns from September 30, 2021, and to 120 microns from December

31, 2022, according to the notification. This will also allow the plastic carry bags to be reused, it stated. Non-woven plastic carry bags should not be less than 60 gram per square metre with effect from September 30,

2021, it said.

on addressing singleuse plastic products pollution, recognising the urgent need for the global community to focus on this issue.

In a statement, the environment ministry said plastic packaging waste not covered under the phase-out of identified single-use plastic items should be collected and managed in an environmentally sustainable way through the Extended Producer Responsibility of the producer, importer and brand owner (PIBO) as per Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.

For effective implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility, the guidelines being brought out have been given a legal force through the amended rules, it said.

Extended Producer Responsibility is a policy approach in which producers take responsibility for management of the disposal of products they produce once those products are designated as no longer useful by consumers.