The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, on 12th August 2021, prohibiting manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of the following identified single use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential, with effect from the 1st July, 2022:
- ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene [Thermocol] for decoration.
- plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 micron, stirrers.
The notification also prohibits manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of plastic carry bags having thickness less than seventy five microns with effect from 30th September, 2021, and having thickness less than thickness of one hundred and twenty microns with effect from the 31st December, 2022. Non-woven plastic carry bags of less than 60 gram persqm (GSM) is also prohibited from 30th September 2021.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has also notified the Guidelines on the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Plastic Packaging vide Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2022, on 16th February, 2022.
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