India's Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) issued a notification on August 12, 2022, banning the manufacture, sale, storage and distribution, import and use of identified single-use plastic (SUP) items, including cutlery, thin packaging films, candy and ice-cream bars, from July 1, 2022. From July 1, India will completely ban the use of single-use plastic
To ensure its implementation, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had earlier issued comprehensive instructions to the State Pollution Control Board, Pollution Control Board and other stakeholders. Issued instructions to manufacturers to stop supplying raw materials to SUP producers and to stop e-commerce companies from selling and using SUP products on their platforms.
During this period, CPCB also took several support measures, such as training MSMEs to switch to plastic alternatives. Digital interventions, including the development of the SUP Compliance Monitoring Portal and the SUP Public Complaint App, were undertaken to facilitate effective monitoring of activities related to the enforcement of the ban. The CPCB along with SPCBs/PCCs also inspected major commercial establishments in July-August 2022.
To further intensify its efforts, CPCB started a special operation on October 17, 2022, deploying more than 50 teams to conduct inspections to restrict the use of SUP items by florists, street vendors, sabzi mandis, fish markets, wholesale markets, etc.
State Department of Urban Development officials attended the inspection. sPCBs/PCCs were asked to conduct a similar drive.
Between October 17 and 19, 2022, the CPCB team conducted a total of 20,036 inspections, including 6,448 inspections.
More than 4,000 violations were found and 2,900 tickets were issued to violators. The authorities confiscated about 46 tons of SUP items and fined Rs. 41 million.
There are attempts to combat the supply chain of SUP programs in the market by going back. Retailers, wholesalers and factories that manufacture SUP items have been tracked down and large quantities of prohibited items have been confiscated during inspections. Inspections are also conducted at interstate borders to prevent the interstate movement of prohibited super items.
CPCB plans to further intensify inspections in the coming days to eliminate SUPs in all sectors of the economy.
