Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading efforts to scrap such plastics by 2022. He is set to launch the campaign with a ban on as many as six items on October 2, the birth anniversary of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, suggested a report by Reuters.
These include plastic bags, cups, plates, small bottles, straws and certain types of sachets, the officials told Reuters, who asked not to be identified, in line with government policy.
The ban is expected to be comprehensive and will include manufacture and import of plastics in the country.
In his Independence Day speech, PM Modi had urged people and government agencies to take the “first big step” on October 2, to eradicate the plastic menace from the country.
“Can we free India from single-use plastic? The time for implementing such an idea has come. May teams be mobilised to work in this direction. Let a significant step be made on October 2,” he said.
In his last “Mann Ki Baat”, PM Modi called for a “mass movement” against single-use plastic.
On August 26, PM Modi highlighted India’s large scale efforts towards eliminating single use plastic, conserving water, harnessing solar energy and protecting flora and fauna for a sustainable future in his address to a G7 session on environment in France, showing consistency in commitment to curb India’s reliance on single-use plastic products.
Nearly 50 per cent of single-use products end up in the ocean, choking and killing the marine life and entering the human food chain, leading to growing concerns about curbs on plastic products.
The European Union plans to ban single-use plastic items such as straws, forks, knives and cotton buds by 2021.
Some Indian states like Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra have already banned polythene bags.
The biggest concern for India is to put an organised system in place for garbage collection and disposal in order to prevent littering in cities and villages.
The Reuters report said that the ban on these six single-use plastic items will clip 5 per cent to 10 per cent from India's annual consumption of about 14 million tonnes of plastic. Penalties for violations of the ban will possibly take effect after an initial six-month period to allow people time to adopt alternatives.
The government is also planning to insist on the use of recyclable plastic only and will urge e-commerce companies to cut back on plastic packaging that makes up close to 40 per cent of India’s plastic consumption.