New Delhi: The government has held off imposing a blanket ban on single-use plastics to combat pollution, officials said Tuesday, a measure seen as too disruptive for industry at a time when it is coping with an economic slowdown and job losses.
The original plan was for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to outlaw six items Wednesday, to coincide with 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. As part of a broader campaign to rid India of single-use plastics by 2022, officials said there would be no immediate move to ban plastic bags, cups, plates, small bottles, straws and certain types of sachets and instead the government would try to curb their use.
For now, government will ask states to enforce existing rules against storing, manufacturing and using some single-use plastic products such as polythene bags and styrofoam, Chandra Kishore Mishra, the top bureaucrat at the ministry of environment said. The government’s proposed countrywide ban had dismayed consumer firms, which use plastic in packaging for everything from sodas and biscuits to ketchup and shampoo.
The Confederation of Indian Industry, a lobby group, said the move had become an existential issue for several economic sectors because alternatives were not immediately available. It said small-sized plastic bottles used for pharmaceutical or health products should be exempted as there is no alternate available. Sachets made from so-called multi-layered packaging should also not be banned, as that could disrupt supplies of products like biscuits, salt and milk, the confederation said.
“There was a conscious decision within the government not to hit businesses hard for now and discourage use of plastic only on a voluntary basis,” said an official.