Syllabus: GS3/Environment
Context
- About 84% of 560 locations surveyed across four cities in India continue to use single-use plastic items banned across the country three years ago.
Major Findings
- A field study was conducted at specific locations across Bhubaneswar, Delhi, Guwahati, and Mumbai in 2025.
- Bhubaneswar recorded the highest availability of banned single-use plastic items at 89% closely followed by Delhi at 86%, Mumbai at 85%, and Guwahati at 76%.
- Sectoral variations: Thin plastic carry bags, disposable plastic cutlery, cups, plates, and straws were widely found across informal markets and small commercial establishments.
- Organised malls and larger retail outlets showed significantly better adherence to the ban compared to informal markets dominated by small vendors.
- It highlighted major gaps in enforcement and called for nationwide urgent action to strengthen implementation.
Single-Use Plastic
- Single-use plastic refers to plastic items that are designed to be used only once before being thrown away.
- It is lightweight and cheap, often non-biodegradable and difficult to recycle.
- It includes plastic carry bags, straws, disposable cutlery (spoons, forks), plastic bottles and food packaging (wrappers, containers).
Why Single-Use Plastic is still in use?
- It is majorly attributed to a high customer demand and a higher cost of alternatives.
- Few customers bring their own bags, but many customers still expect vendors to provide free carry bags.
- The continued presence of banned plastic items in a majority of locations suggests that enforcement remains inconsistent.
- Reluctance to transition from plastics to alternatives, including paper cups and plates.
- Customers perceive disposable plates and cutlery to be more hygienic than reusable items.
Recommendations
- Need for stronger national action by all stakeholders government, single-use plastic manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.
- More robust enforcement and monitoring mechanisms with regular inspections, coordinated action among regulatory agencies, and consistent penalties.
- Improving the availability and affordability of sustainable alternatives by supporting local production, strengthening supply chains, and facilitating market access.
- Promoting sustained public awareness and behaviour-change campaigns, and targeted support and incentives for small vendors to help them transition to alternative materials.
What is Plastic?
- The word plastic is derived from the Greek word plastikos, meaning “capable of being shaped or moulded.”
- Plastic refers to a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient with their defining quality being their plasticity – the ability of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation in response to applied forces.
- The basic building blocks of plastics are monomers, which are small molecules that can join together to form long chains called polymers through a process called polymerization.
India’s Efforts in Tackling Plastic Waste
- Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): The Indian government has implemented EPR, making plastic manufacturers responsible for managing and disposing of the waste generated by their products.
- Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022: It prohibits manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of plastic carry bags having thickness less than 120 microns.
- India’s Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2024: It defines biodegradable plastics as not only capable of degradation by biological processes in specific environments but also as materials that do not leave any microplastics.
- Rules specify that the makers of disposable plastic ware can label them as biodegradable only when they do not leave any microplastics behind.
- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: It is a national cleanliness campaign, which includes the collection and disposal of plastic waste.
- Plastic Parks: India has set up Plastic Parks, which are specialized industrial zones for recycling and processing plastic waste.
- The Indian judiciary, under Article 21 of the Constitution (Right to Life), has proactively engaged in cases of environmental degradation.
- Beach clean-up drives: The Indian government and various non-governmental organizations have organized beach clean-up drives to collect and dispose of plastic waste from beaches.
- India is a signatory to MARPOL (International Convention on Prevention of Marine Pollution).
Source: TH
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