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A sack containing discarded plastic bottles is seen at a recycling yard in New Delhi, India, on November 22, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
NEW DELHI, July 1 (Reuters) – India on Friday imposed a ban on single-use plastics on items ranging from straws to cigarette packets to combat worsening pollution in countries whose streets are strewn with waste.
Announcing the ban, the government dismissed the demands of food, beverage, and consumer goods companies to hold off the restriction to avoid disruptions.
Plastic waste has become a significant source of pollution in India, the world’s second most populous country.
Rapid economic growth has fueled demand for goods that come with single-use plastic products, such as straws and disposable cutlery.
But India, which uses about 14 million tonnes of plastic annually, lacks an organized system for managing plastic waste, leading to widespread littering.
Streets across towns are littered with used plastic goods that eventually choke drains, rivers, and oceans and also kill animals.
India’s ban on single-use plastic items includes straws, cutlery, earbuds, packaging films, plastic sticks for balloons, candy, and ice cream, and cigarette packets, among other products, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government said in a statement.
PepsiCo (PEP.O)Coca-Cola Co (KO.N)India’s Parle Agro, Dabur (DABU.NS), and Amul had lobbied for straws to be exempted from the ban. read more
In relief to consumers, the government has for now exempted plastic bags but it has asked manufacturers and importers to raise the thickness to promote reuse.
Other than the food and beverage and consumer goods companies, plastic manufacturers have also about the ban that they say did not give them adequate time to prepare for the restriction.
Some experts believe that enforcing the ban might be difficult. The government has decided to set up control rooms to check any illegal use, sale and distribution of single-use plastic products.
According to the United Nations, plastic waste is at epidemic proportions in the world’s oceans, with an estimated 100 million tonnes dumped there. Scientists have found large amounts of microplastic in the intestines of deep-dwelling ocean mammals like whales.
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