India officially issued a ban on plastic: will the white ghost ravaging the South Asian subcontinent usher in a turning point?

Just on July 1, 2022, India's ban on single-use plastics came into effect!

Indeed, in the 20 years since Bangladesh issued the "plastic ban" in 2002, China, Cambodia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Colombia, Turkey, Panama, Spain, Portugal, Pakistan, Mongolia, South Korea, Chile , Madagascar, Namibia, Kenya and other dozens of countries have banned single-use plastic products including plastic bags and plastic boxes. This time India's participation has made the population covered by the "plastic ban" successfully exceeded 50% of the world's total population. , which means that mankind has taken a big step forward in controlling "white pollution".

And what are the characteristics of this Indian plastic ban?

First of all, as a country with a population of 1.4 billion, India has always had a prominent problem of "white pollution". In 2020, India generated about 4 million tons of plastic waste, and 19 million tons of "historical stock", about a third of which was not recycled and ended up in waterways and landfills, which often catch fire and contribute to air pollution. According to a McKinsey & Company research report, in 2016, 40% of the plastic waste generated globally was landfilled, 25% was incinerated, 19% was discarded into the environment, and only 16% was recycled. In contrast, according to Indian media reports, in 2017, the capital, New Delhi, produced 689 tons of plastic waste every day. As for the whole of India, nearly 26,000 tons of plastic waste was produced every day, of which at least 40% were not recycled. Similar in India and China, both have higher-than-global average plastic waste recycling rates, which is one of the "benefits" of high population density.

Secondly, India is also working very hard to control white garbage. In 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on June 5, World Environment Day, that he plans to eliminate all single-use plastic products by 2022. To this end, India will also launch a clean-up campaign against marine plastic waste. In addition, India has increased the recycling of plastic waste, such as using plastic waste for road construction, power generation, and clothing. As of 2018, three waste-to-energy plants have been built in New Delhi to process waste such as plastic waste; at the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune, Maharashtra, experimenters are studying plastic waste to make clothes or sofa covers . About 15% of the plastic waste is also used in construction materials for highways from New Delhi to Mumbai. Therefore, the Indian version of the "plastic ban" implemented on July 1 this year is also part of fulfilling the commitment.

The first stage of the "plastic ban", at this stage, Delhi has identified 19 kinds of plastic items that are likely to become garbage, including plastic cups, plastic forks, plastic trays, etc. used by roadside vendors, and stipulated that the production, It is illegal to import, store, distribute or sell these items. If a supplier or distributor is found to be ignoring these rules, the penalties are severe: up to a fine of 100,000 rupees ($1,265) or five years in prison. Of course, thousands of other plastic products — like bottles for water or soda or bags for potato chips — are not covered by the ban to allow consumers and businesses to adjust to the new environment. But congestion has set targets for manufacturers to be responsible for recycling or disposing of them after use.

In addition, India's "plastic ban" is also an important part of preventing global warming: manufacturing plastics will release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that cause global warming. India produces more than 243,000 tons of disposable plastic products every year. This means that reducing the manufacture of plastics and the waste that goes with it is critical for India to meet its goal of reducing the emissions intensity of economic activity by 45% within eight years.

In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the "plastic ban", India said that while determining the prohibited goods, the availability of alternatives was also taken into account: paper bags, bamboo spoons, plantain trays, wooden ice cream sticks, etc. Environmentalists have also raised concerns in light of other countries' inability to enforce "plastic bans": Ravi Agarwal, director of New Delhi-based advocacy group Toxics Link, which focuses on waste management, told the media Said the ban was "a good start" but its success would depend on its implementation. The actual enforcement of the law will be in the hands of the various state and municipal bodies.

At present, India has begun to vigorously promote the use of degradable materials and advocate the use of these materials by citizens, thereby reducing and controlling damage to the ecological environment. For example, shopping bags, catering supplies, office supplies, and protective equipment used in daily life are all made of DuPont paper raw materials. DuPont paper is gradually entering consumers' attention with a purely environmentally friendly and high-quality attitude. In daily life, due to its unique texture and environmental protection attributes, it will continue to be used in all walks of life to a greater extent, and India also hopes to use this to curb the deterioration of its own ecological environment and improve the world's view of India. Improve the country's international status.