To tackle rising pollution in the country’s streets, India banned single-use plastics on goods ranging from straws to cigarette packets on Friday.

When the ban was announced, the government ignored the appeals of food, beverage, and consumer products industries to postpone the limitation to avoid inconveniences.

In India, the world’s second most populated country, plastic trash has become a major source of pollution.

Rapid economic expansion has increased demand for commodities that include single-use plastic items like straws and disposable cutlery.

However, India, which uses over 14 million tonnes of plastic per year, lacks an organised system for managing plastic trash, resulting in widespread littering.

Plastic waste litters city streets, eventually clogging drains, rivers, and oceans and killing animals.

Straws, cutlery, ear buds, packaging films, plastic sticks for balloons, confectionery and ice cream, and cigarette packs are among the things banned in India, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Co, India’s Parle Agro, Dabur, and Amul have all campaigned for the exception of straws from the ban.

The government has temporarily exempted plastic bags, but has encouraged producers and importers to increase the thickness to encourage reuse.

Plastic manufacturers, in addition to food and beverage and consumer goods industries, have protested about the prohibition, claiming that it did not give them enough time to prepare.

According to some experts, enforcing the ban may be challenging. The government has chosen to create up control rooms to monitor illicit single-use plastic product use, sale, and distribution.

Plastic garbage has reached epidemic proportions in the world’s oceans, according to the UN, with an estimated 100 million tonnes deposited there. Microplastic has been discovered in the intestines of deep-sea creatures such as whales by scientists.

(Adapted from VOANews.com)

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