MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Indian government is planning to phase out single-use plastics leading to complete elimination. But concerns revolve around the availability of alternatives and plastic waste management systems, said RFI.
A government committee has identified the single use plastic (SUP) items to be banned based on an index of their utility and environmental impact.
In the three-stage ban, the first category of SUP items proposed to be phased out are plastic sticks used in balloons, flags, candy, ice-cream and ear buds, and thermocol that is used in decorations.
The second category, proposed to be banned from July 1, 2022, includes items such as plates, cups, glasses and cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straws, trays; wrapping and packing films used in sweet boxes; invitation cards; cigarette packets; stirrers and plastic banners that are less than 100 microns in thickness.
A third category of prohibition is for non-woven bags below 240 microns in thickness. This is proposed to start from September next year.
As per MRC, the European Parliament has recently voted to ban single-use plastics across the board in an attempt to stop the unending stream of plastic pollution making its way into the oceans. Such plastic products include things like straws, plates, cups and cotton buds, and can take several centuries to degrade in the oceans where they are increasingly observed to be consumed by marine life. According to the European Commission, such plastics make up 70 percent of all marine litter.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
MRC