New Dehli 21 July.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, on 12th August 2021, prohibiting manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of the following identified single use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential with effect from the 1st July.
Ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream 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.
The notification also prohibits manufacture, import,
stocking, distribution, sale and use of plastic carry bags having thickness less than seventy-five microns with effect from
30th September, 2021, and having thickness less than thickness of one hundred
and twenty microns with effect from the 31st December, 2022.Also, thirty four
states/UTs had already issued notifications/orders to introduce regulations
pertaining to complete or partial ban on plastic carry bags and/or identified
single-use plastic items over and above Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016,
as amended.
The Ministry published draft
notification in Gazette of India on 11th March 2021 seeking objections and
suggestions from stakeholders within a period sixty days from the date of the
publication of the draft notification. The draft notification had also been
brought out after prior consultation with concerned line Ministries. The final
notification was published after due consideration of all the
comments/suggestions received. Further, awareness
programmes and capacity building workshops have been organized for stakeholders
with respect to ban on identified single use plastics.
The ban on identified single use plastic items was notified vide the Plastic Waste Management
Amendment Rules, 2021on 12th August 2021, and is in
force from 1st July, 2022. The Ministry of
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has schemes to provide support to MSME
units, which includes support to such units earlier involved in manufacturing
of banned single use plastic items for switching over to alternatives / other
products. These schemes provide support in respect of technology upgradation,
creating awareness, marketing support, infrastructural support, as per scheme
guidelines.
This information was given by the Minister of State for
Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a
written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
