No blanket ban on single-use plastic, awareness drive to be launched

NEWDELHI: The drive against single-use plastic products will be a mass awareness movement and there will no blanket ban, Union environment ministry secretary C K Mishra has said.

“On October 2, a mass movement will be launched for the sensitisation on plastics. It will be a part of the Swachh Bharat’s mission program and will involve people in villages and towns across the country in collecting plastic waste. Of course, there will be a strong emphasis on recycling,” he said at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that India is hosting.

On Monday, Mishra said they will also begin talks with industry to see how they can take this movement forward. “The industry has already committed to looking for solutions and alternatives to plastics. They will also be involved in the collection of plastic waste.”

All states have been issued advisories on single-use plastics.

The advisory has suggested that states should stop manufacturing all plastic carry bags, with or without handles, irrespective of thickness and size, plastic cutlery etcetera by October 2 and instead encourage manufacturers and consumers to shift to other alternatives.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the campaign to phase out single-use plastic in his Independence Day speech, the industry bodies said it would impact millions of people working in the sector and affect important sectors amid an economic slowdown.