Single-use plastic items to be banned from next July

Items to be banned include plastic flags, candy sticks and cigarette packets

The Centre 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 dated August 12. 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 (GSM) with effect from September 30, 2021, the notification said.

“The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of following single-use plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities shall be prohibited with effect from

New Delhi, Aug. 13:

July 1, 2022: ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, icecream sticks, polystyrene (thermocol) for decoration; plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays; wrapping or packing

films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 micron, stirrers,” it read.

The provisions will not apply to commodities made of compostable plastic, the notification said.

In June 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that India will eliminate all singleuse plastics in the country by 2022.

In the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly held in 2019, India had piloted a resolution