Plastic Pollution

Nearly 7,000 kilogram of single-use plastic has been seized by the civic authorities in February so far in the city under a 100-day campaign, officials said on Monday. As many as 587 penalties have been issued to the violators from February 1-20, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said in a statement. Among the 12 zones of the MCD, the maximum amount (1,263 kg) of single-use plastic has been seized from Shahdara South Zone. This is followed by Rohini Zone (1,003 kg), Najafgarh Zone (977 kg) and South Zone (789 kg) Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on January 21 had kicked off a thematic 100-day campaign to make areas under the municipal corporation free of plastic. "The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has seized 6,939 kg of SUP plastic items and issued 587 challans from 1st February to 20th February 2023," the statement said. Strict action is being taken by zonal teams of the MCD to curb single-use plastic (SUP), it said. The identified SUP items include earbuds with plas

Muzaffarnagar has over 30 paper mills and receives a whopping 20,000 tonnes of imported waste paper every month

Plastic waste that starts off in Americans' recycling bins ends up at illegal dumpsites - and inside the lungs of people in Muzaffarnagar

A report by environmental group Oceana has found that plastic waste from Amazon packages went up by 18 per cent last year, but Amazon says it has reduced its use of single-use plastic across its network. According to the Oceana's estimates, released Thursday, Amazon's plastic waste jumped from 599 million pounds in 2020 to 709 million pounds last year an amount that can circle the planet more than 800 times in the form of air pillows, the group said. For years, the advocacy organisation has been pushing the company to release more data around its plastic footprint and commit to reducing any harmful environmental impacts that might stem from it. That idea was put up for a vote two times at Amazon's annual shareholders meetings during the past two years. The last vote, held in May, got support from 48 per cent of shareholders. But the e-commerce behemoth had resisted calls to release more data until Tuesday, when it disclosed in a blog post that it used 97,222 metric tons (over 214 .

Plastics industry groups have called for a focus on recycling

Cellulose and other compounds generated from plants frequently provide good thermal insulation

Being the fifth highest generator of plastic waste in the world, India needs to be tougher on big brands if we are to reduce our plastic footprint, experts say.

Litigation could cost the plastics industry and its insurers $20 billion in the US over the next eight years, according to a report backed by the United Nations and an Australian billionaire

With 19 single-use plastic items banned from July 1, including the straws, companies including Dabur India Ltd. and Parle Agro Pvt, have been racing to replace them with imported paper versions

Small businesses say they were not consulted about the restriction and they can't refuse customers

He also claimed the Union government did not even call a meeting of state environment ministers before the ban came into force.

Cotton and jute are both vying for space in the domestic market after making global inroads; business goes beyond carry bags to embrace earbuds, thermacol, kitchenware. among others

The current list of banned items is not comprehensive

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee set up a control room to monitor the implementation of the ban on 19 identified single-use plastic items and will start shutting units violating it from Monday

The Delhi government will also provide incentives to SUP manufacturing units willing to switch over to green alternatives.

The government will give top priority to creating awareness against the use of SUP items and providing their alternatives to people, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said.

Control rooms to be set up for implementation of the ministry order, says Bhupinder Yadav

Industry grouse - 22 products have been banned although they are fully recyclable, while non-recyclable packaging used by FMCG firms have been let off

Thermoformers and Allied Industries Association (TAIA) on Monday urged the government not to impose a blanket ban on single-use plastics from July 1 and instead do it in a phased manner. Plastic plates, cups, glasses and trays are made from single-use plastics and the imposition of a ban will stop the manufacturing of these products and kill the Rs 10,000-crore size industry that employs 2 lakh people directly and 4.5 lakh people indirectly, it said. Speaking to PTI, TAIA Secretary Bhavesh Bhojani said, "The products that we manufacture are 100 per cent recyclable but are put under the blanket ban. The relaxation has been given to manufacturers of carrying bags, bottles and multi-layered plastics (MLP) but not to us." Plastic carry bags and bottle makers have been given different specifications for phasing out the manufacturing of these products. For instance, manufacturers are allowed to produce 75 microns plastic carry bags till December 2022 and after that they have to shift to 1

Govt has decided to phase out single-use plastic from the country. So, FMCG companies are now scrambling to find a replacement for plastic straws. Here's an insight into the world of plastic straws