India has notified a ban on the use of single-use plastic items starting from July 1, 2022, in a bid to make the country free from single-use plastics.
The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of the following single-use plastic, including polystyrene (PS) and expanded PS commodities will be prohibited.
The products banned will include earbuds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, PS (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 polyvinyl chloride (PVC) banners less than 100 microns.
The country also raised the mandatory thickness of polythene bags from 50 macrons to 120 macrons. The rule will be implemented in a staggered manner in two phases. From September 30, India will ban polythene bags of less than 75 microns in thickness, and on December 31, 2022, it will ban bags of less than 120 microns.
