Scientists have calculated the total amount of plastic ever made in the last 60 years or so, and put the number at 8.3 billion tonnes, which is equivalent to the weight of a billion elephants...And since plastic takes at least 400-500 years to degrade, more than 70% of the total production of plastic items is now in our landfills, rivers, lakes and oceans...Studies estimate over 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean annually, causing unprecedented damage to the world's delicate ecosystems. It is also reported that the central government may announce a complete ban on a number of Single-Use Plastic items on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.