A bold plan to ban single-use plastic in India has been shelved
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to tackle single-use plastics has been scrapped.
In a sweeping Independence Day address on August 15, Modi suggested that he would ban single-use plastic across the country from October 2nd, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
“Can we take this first big step on October 2 towards making India free from single-use plastic? Come my countrymen, let us take this forward,” Modi told a crowd of thousands gathered at Delhi’s historic Red Fort for the annual Independence Day speech. “Single-use plastic is the root cause of many of our problems – but the solution has to come from within, from us,” he added.
Modi reiterated this just days later during his monthly radio address. He announced the September 11 launch of the annual Swachhata hi Seva campaign (Cleanliness is Service), saying: “This time, our emphasis must be on plastic… Let us celebrate Gandhi Jayanti (Gandhi’s Birthday) this year as a mark of a plastic-free Mother India,” he said on August 25.
Also Read: India to Ban Single-Use Plastic Products on October 2
The prohibited single-use items potentially included plastic bags, cups, plates, small bottles, straws and certain sachets. But those plans now appear to have been shelved. An official announcement was expected to coincide with the anniversary of Gandhi’s birth, but rather than a blanket ban, the move is now being touted as an awareness campaign.
A tweet posted by the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission clarified the government’s stance, writing it “is not about banning single-use plastic but creating awareness and a people’s movement to curb its use.”
Dealing with plastic in a plummeting economy
With its 1.3 billion population, India consumed an estimated 15.5 million tons of plastic in 2016-17, according to Plastindia Foundation, an organization of major associations and institutions associated with plastic. That number is predicted to increase to 20 million tons by 2019-20.
But a crackdown on plastic could also hit an economy expanding at its slowest pace in six years, with unemployment at a 45-year high.
India’s plastic industry officially employs around 4 million people across 30,000 processing units, out of which 90% are small to medium-sized businesses, according to India Brand Equity Foundation, a trust set up by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Plastics also support thousands employed informally such as ragpickers as well as street food and market vendors who are reliant on single-use plastic.
This was originally published by CNN
