Single use plastic ban in India: The ban was enforced on July 1 all across the country, it is a great initiative taken by the Indian government to protect the environment from plastic pollution.
To bring down the enormous damage single use plastic products have on the environment, the Indian government enforced a ban on single use plastic from Friday (July 1).
What is Single use plastic?
Single-use plastic also known as disposable plastics, are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled. These items include things like plastic bags, soda and water bottles, straws, coffee stirrers, and most food packaging materials.
The list of banned single use plastic items includes:
- Earbuds with plastic sticks
- Plastic sticks for balloons
- Plastic bags
- Candy sticks
- Ice – cream sticks
- Polystyrene (Thermocol) for decoration
- Plastic plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays
- wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes
- Invitation cards
- Cigarette packets
- Plastic or PVC banners less than 100 micron
- Stirrers etc.
Don’t worry about your day-to-day activities without plastic items, take a look at these alternatives that are easy to find as well as affordable.
Alternatives to plastic you can easily find
1. Alternative for plastic straws:
- You can try stainless steel straws
- Bamboo straws
- Pasta straws
- and Rice straws.
2. Balloons Alternatives: For this, you can select more environmental-friendly decoration options such as:
- Flowers
- DIY paper flowers
- Paper lanterns
- Recycled bunting
3. Give up plastic earbuds: You can easily switch to:
- Bamboo cotton buds
- Fluid ear washes
- If you use earbuds for makeup, opt for cotton
4. Plastic cups: Opt for reusable glasses or mugs for office, school or home and protect the environment
5. Plastic cutlery: To get rid of this extremely wasteful thing – Try using reusable bamboo spoons, forks, and knives.
6. Grocery shopping: For this need, you can carry jute or cloth bags to the shops.
7. Plastic Bottles: Steel bottles can be used as a better replacement for plastic bottles for long-term use.
If you switch to these eco-friendly alternatives, you’ll see yourself living more sustainably and happily.
Single use plastic ban in India was newly imposed. So supporting government is our responsibility, it will definitely take time to be effectively implemented.
For the effective implementation of the single use plastic ban in India, special enforcement teams have also been formed to inspect the illegal manufacture, distribution, import, stocking, sale and use of banned single use plastic items.