Fineprint of Single-use plastic ban

Context: With the objective to conserve the environment, the government has finally notified Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021. These rules prohibit identified single-use plastic items by 2022.

What is single-use plastic?

• SUP can be understood as plastic produced and designed to be thrown away after being used only once.
• These include everything from a disposable straw to a disposable syringe.  

SUP in Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021

• India has defined SUP as “a plastic commodity intended to be used once for the same purpose before being disposed of or recycled” in its Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021.
• The identification of single-use plastic items to be phased out was done on the basis of a report by an expert committee constituted by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC), under the direction of the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers on SUP. 

Key-highlights of the new Rules
A central government committee has identified the single-use plastic items to be banned based on an index of their utility and environmental impact. It will be a three-stage ban.

• First category: The first category of single-use plastic items proposed to be phased out are plastic sticks used in balloons, flags, candy, ice cream and earbuds, and thermocol that is used in decorations.
• Second phase: Plastic products that are less than 100 microns in thickness will be removed in the second phase.
• Third phase: The third category of prohibition is for non-woven bags below 240 microns in thickness.

The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of some single-use plastic products including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene shall be prohibited from July 1, 2022. 
Issues with the rules

• Selection of the items: Some of the items which are low on utility, but high environmental impact are left out of the rules, thus benefiting big corporations.
• Discriminatory provisions: Schedule for phase out does not cover a range of SUPs generated by fast-moving consumer goods companies (FMCGs) such as cigarette filters, plastic water bottles etc. rather they impact MSME’s.
• Plastic packaging waste outside the rules: Plastic packaging, which contributes to almost 60% of the total plastic waste generated, is not listed for being phased out.  It was proposed to be collected and managed in an environmentally sustainable way through the extended producer responsibility (EPR) according to the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. However, the EPR for plastic waste management remains only on paper, due to non-compliance by companies and weak enforcement by authorities.
• Exemption of compostable plastic: Compostable plastic is exempted, but India does not have an existing labelling mechanism to differentiate fossil-based plastics from the compostable ones. This loophole could be misused to label 50-micron plastics as compostable.
• Moratorium: Notification gives a 10-year moratorium to the plastic industry, rather than pushing the plastic industry to invest in relevant research and development and ensure use of recycled products in their non-food packaging applications.
• Exemption to Multi-layer plastic (MLP): The 2021 amendment have exempted MLP from the list of items to be phased out for another 10 year.

India’s initiatives to stop plastic pollution

• During the 4th United Nations Environment Assembly held in 2019, India moved a resolution on addressing single-use plastic products pollution by 2022.
• PM Modi was conferred the 'champions of the earth' award by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2018 for pledging to eliminate all single-use plastic by 2022.

Global best practices

• European Union: It has come up with a clear vision in the form of EU plastics strategy which gave the industry a three-year window till 2021 to phase out 10 identified SUP items
• Israel: It has proposed to levy double purchase tax on SUP and disposable plastic ware. The move is expected to reduce usage by 41 per cent.