Announcing the ban, the government rejected requests by food, beverage and consumer goods companies to delay the restriction to avoid disruption.
But India, which uses about 14 million tonnes of plastic annually, has no organized plastic waste management system, leading to widespread dumping.
The streets of cities are littered with used plastic products that end up clogging drains, rivers and oceans and also killing animals.
India’s single-use plastic ban includes straws, cutlery, earplugs, wrapping film, plastic balloon sticks, candy and ice cream and cigarette packets, among other products, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government said in a statement .
PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, India’s Parle Agro, Dabur and Amul lobbied for straws to be exempted from the ban.
To the relief of consumers, the government has exempted plastic bags for now, but has asked manufacturers and importers to increase the thickness to encourage reuse.
Besides food and beverage and consumer goods companies, plastic manufacturers have also complained about the ban, which they say has not given them enough time to prepare for the restriction.
Some experts believe that enforcing the ban could be difficult. The government has decided to set up control rooms to check any 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 about 100 million tons dumped there. Scientists have found large amounts of microplastics in the guts of deep-sea ocean mammals such as whales.
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