The Prime Minister delivering his 2019 Independence Day speech at Red Fort, pitched for freedom for India from single-use plastic. This was the incumbent government’s second strong position against single-use plastic. The then Union minister for environment, forest and climate change, said on World Environment Day 2018 (June 5) that the country would try to “phase out” single-use plastic by 2022.

Body:

India’s efforts towards reducing plastic waste:

• The Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules 2011, introduced under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, established a framework that assigned responsibilities for plastic waste management to the urban local body (ULB) and set up a state level monitoring committee.
• The 2011 rules were succeeded by the PWM Rules 2016, which tightened the rules (for example, banning plastic bags of less than 50 microns thickness), and also lay the foundation for accountability across the value-chain.
• The new rules require producers and brand-owners to devise a plan in consultation with the local bodies to introduce a collect-back system.
• The extended producers’ responsibility (EPR) would assist the municipalities in tackling the plastic waste issue.
• The rules also state that the manufacture and use of multi-layered plastics that are hard to recycle must be phased out.
• Under the Good and Service Tax (GST), plastic waste was put under a 5 per cent bracket, hurting the informal sector, which already lacks a concrete action plan.
• Latest amendments to plastic management rules 2016:
  • Rule 15 (Explicit pricing of carrying bags) has been omitted in the amendment. It earlier required every vendor, who sold commodities in a carry bag, to register with their respective urban local body and pay a minimum fee of Rs 48,000 annum (4000/month) after the announcement of the bye-laws.
  • Other minor amendments include the addition of two more definitions: one on ‘alternate use’ and one on ‘energy recovery’.
  • The section13 (2) now requires all brand owners and producers to register or renew registration with the concerned State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) or Pollution Control Committee if operational only in one or two states or union territories.
  • They have to do the same with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), if the producers/brand owners are operating in more than two states or union territories.
• Some states like Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Himachal Pradesh banned plastic bottles and Tetra packs, single-use straws, plastic/Styrofoam tea cups/containers, etc. But many like Bihar banned only polythene bags.
• The most detrimental single-use plastics are multi-layered sachets for packing products like tobacco. The Plastic Management Waste 2016 rules prohibit their use for storing and selling gutka / tobacco and paan Masala.

Shortcomings in the efforts:

• There is no central and comprehensive definition for single-use plastic, crucial for any ban to be successful. Governments currently use various definitions.
• The Plastic Management Waste 2016 rules are hardly enforced. Implementation of the rules has been poor in all aspects and the amendment says nothing to strengthen it.
• Packaging for snacks like chips and fries, chocolates, beverages, etc are equally harmful. These ubiquitous packages are not recycled.
• Section 9 (3) of the latest amendment to plastic management rules 2016 gives plastic producers a scope to argue that their products can be put to some other use, if not recycled.
• This move tantamount to revoking a complete ban, which it had implied earlier.
• This type of plastic was supposed to be banned by March 2018, but it is nowhere near a phase-out.
• The idea of extended producer responsibility (EPR), which was introduced in the rules of 2016, still remains nowhere close to being implemented even after two years.
• EPR targets have to be accounted for at the national level, irrespective of which state the products are sold or consumed in. The amendment does not address these issues. Moreover, no example of deposit refund scheme system has been implemented in any state.
• Lack of adequate infrastructure for segregation and collection is the key reason for inefficient plastic waste disposal.
• Most municipal corporations still do not have a proper system of collection and segregation, given their lack of access to technology and infrastructure, which are needed to dispose of plastic waste in a cost- and resource-efficient way.
• The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, mandate ULBs to set up facilities for processing sorted dry waste. However, the implementation has been rather bleak, owing to available land/space concerns.
• Source separation of waste, coupled with segregated collection and transportation, has been weak links in the waste supply.
• Imposing penalties or fines is easier said than done in a democratic setup.
• Plastic in oceans and forests are choking flora and fauna. In fact, plastic trash is expected to exceed the fish population in 2050.
• Microplastics has ability to enter food chain with the highest concentration of the pollutants

Way forward:

• ULBs could a take cue from cities like Bangalore where dry waste collection centres have not only been established but also have a self-sustainable business model.
• Municipalities must develop waste collection plans, coupled with outreach activities, to sensitise citizens on waste segregation.
• It is imperative to develop a phase-wise implementation of the EPR programme with yearly targets and a system of nationwide offsets and credit to ensure effective implementation of the rules.
• International best practices:
  • The success of imposing a plastic bag fee has also been established in cities like Chicago and Washington, showing that such interventions could be effective in shaping behaviour change.
  • The European Union is mulling new laws to ban some everyday single-use plastic products including straws, cutlery and plates citing plastic litter in oceans as the concern prompting the action.
  • Encouraging plogging: Picking up litter while jogging or strolling was kick-started on a small scale in a small part of Stockholm about a year ago, it has spread across the globe and India can adopt this as well.
  • Countries such as the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands have already put in place regulations to stop the use of microbeads in personal-care products. The sooner India adopts such regulations, the better
• Recycling has to ensure that wastes are converted into products of the same quality, if not better, compared to the original product.
• Stop using single use plastic:
  • The Government of the state of Maharashtra has announced an ambitious ban of plastic bags, water bottles and other disposable plastic items in the state after the state civic bodies started facing serious problems on garbage disposing and its management.
  • Fine for violating the ban will be Rs 5,000 for the first offence, Rs 10,000 for the second and Rs 25,000 for the third offence or a three-month jail term or both.
• With a worldwide crisis due to plastic waste, India has to involve all the stakeholders take the responsibility of ensuring minimisation, reuse and recycling of plastic to the maximum.
• Sensitise people to stop littering and segregate their waste. Nowadays the most popular eco-conscious effort is participating in beach cleanups.
• Sanitary napkins made from biodegradable material, menstrual cups should be promoted.