Government bans one-time use plastic cutlery :

1. The Himachal Government has banned one-time use plastic cutlery, while giving three months time to individuals, stockists and shopkeepers to dispose of their existing stock in view of the damage being caused to the environment.

2. The use of the banned items like spoons, bowls, katoris, stirring sticks, forks, knives and straws, made of non-biodegradable material will become an offence three months from now.

3. The penalty on littering this plastic cutlery by a commercial establishment will attract a fine of Rs 5,000, while the same offence by an individual will invite a penalty of Rs 1,000. The penalty in the case of plastic cutlery will be weight wise with Rs 500 for 100 gms stuff to Rs 25,000 for more than 10 kg.

4. However, in what could be a major relief to the units manufacturing all such one-time use plastic cutlery items within the state, the produced material can be manufactured with the condition that it would be for sale outside the state. All commercial establishments like offices, hotels, shops, restaurants, marriage halls and religious institutions would be penalised in case they are found using these banned items.

5. Himachal had on August 31, 2018, imposed a ban on plastic carry bags of all sizes, plastic and thermocol items having one-time use like plates and glasses, made of non-biodegradable material. “It has been noticed that the one-time plastic cutlery used for serving and consuming food is still in use and causing environmental pollution and indiscriminate littering. The ban is not giving the desired results,” said Dhiman. He said the ban would, however, come into effect three months later.

Himachal is the first state in the country to ban use of polythene bags which was causing immense damage to the fragile hill ecology. As such attempts have been made to ban polythene bags, thermocol plates, glasses and now one-time cutlery made of non-biodegradable plastic.

Hazards of plastic :

Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g.: plastic bottles and much more) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, and humans. Plastics that act as pollutants are categorized into micro-, meso-, or macro debris, based on size. Plastics are inexpensive and durable, and as a result levels of plastic production by humans are high.However, the chemical structure of most plastics renders them resistant to many natural processes of degradation and as a result they are slow to degrade. Together, these two factors have led to a high prominence of plastic pollution in the environment.

Plastic pollution can afflict land, waterways and oceans. It is estimated that 1.1 to 8.8 million metric tons (MT) of plastic waste enters the ocean from costal communities each year. Living organisms, particularly marine animals, can be harmed either by mechanical effects, such as entanglement in plastic objects, problems related to ingestion of plastic waste, or through exposure to chemicals within plastics that interfere with their physiology. Effects on humans include disruption of various hormonal mechanisms.

As of 2018, about 380 million tons of plastic is produced worldwide each year. From the 1950s up to 2018, an estimated 6.3 billion tons of plastic has been produced worldwide, of which an estimated 9% has been recycled and another 12% has been incinerated.This large amount of plastic waste enters the environment, with studies suggesting that the bodies of 90% of seabirds contain plastic debris. In some areas there have been significant efforts to reduce the prominence of free range plastic pollution, through reducing plastic consumption, litter cleanup, and promoting plastic recycling.

Some researchers suggest that by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans by weight.