India bans single-use plastic disposables to combat pollution

India on Friday banned single-use plastics, including straws and cigarette packets, to combat worsening pollution in a country whose streets are strewn with waste.

When announcing the ban, the government dismissed the demands of food, beverage, and consumer goods companies to hold off on the restriction to avoid disruptions.

Plastic waste has become a significant source of pollution in India, the world's second most populous country.

Rapid economic growth has fueled demand for goods made from single-use plastic, such as straws and disposable cutlery. However, India, which uses about 14 million tons of plastic annually, lacks an organized system for managing plastic waste, leading to widespread littering.

Streets across towns are littered with used plastic goods that eventually choke drains, rivers and oceans and also kill animals.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government said in a statement that India's ban on single-use plastic items includes straws, cutlery, earbuds, packaging films, plastic sticks for balloons, candy and ice cream, and cigarette packets. PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, India's Parle Agro, Dabur, and Amul had lobbied to exempt straws from the ban.

To consumers' relief, the government has exempted plastic bags for now, but it has asked manufacturers and importers to raise the thickness to promote reuse. In addition to the food, beverage, and consumer goods companies, plastic manufacturers have also complained about the ban, which they say did not give them adequate time to prepare for the restriction.

Some experts believe that enforcing the ban might be difficult. The government has set up control rooms to check for illegal use, sale, and distribution of single-use plastic products.

According to the United Nations, plastic waste is at epidemic proportions in the world's oceans, with an estimated 100 million tons dumped there. Scientists have found large amounts of microplastic in the intestines of deep-dwelling ocean mammals like whales.