Lok Sabha Question No. 300 (STARRED), answered on 2020-03-13
Subject: Impact of Plastic Waste on Animals
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Uday Pratap Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK  SABHA

STARRED QUESTION No.*300 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2020

## Impact of Plastic Waste on Animals

## *300. SHRI UDAY PRATAP SINGH:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  note  of  the  destruction  caused  to  terrestrial  and aquatic animal life due to consumption of plastic waste;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard including reducing the use of plastic;
- (c) the total number of deaths of cows reported due to consumption of plastic waste during the last three years, State/UT-wise;
- (d) the  steps  taken  to  create  awareness  and  ensure  participation  of  people  towards  a  clean environment;and
- (e) whether the Government has identified viable alternatives to plastic and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

- (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 300 to be answered on Friday, the 13 th March, 2020 on 'Impact of Plastic Waste on Animals' by Shri UdayPratap Singh

(a) and (b) The  volume  of  plasticproduced  in  the  world  has  increased  significantly  and  an increasing amount of plastic litter ends up in terrestrial and aquatic eco system.Plastic litter is hazardous  to  the  terrestrial  and  marine  environment  because  plastics  are  durable,  buoyant, waterproof, indigestible and non-biodegradable. Plastic debris injures and kills fish, seabirds and marine mammals.

The Government has notified Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. As per the provisions of Plastic  Waste  Management  Rules,  2016,  the  generators  of  waste  have  been  mandated  to  take steps to minimize generation of plastic waste, not to litter the plastic waste, ensure segregated storage of waste at source and handover segregated waste to local bodies or agencies authorised by  the  local  bodies.  The  rules  have  also  mandated  the  responsibilities  of  local  bodies,  gram panchayats, waste generators, retailers and street vendors to manage the plastic waste. The rules mandate the producers, importers and brand owners to work out modalities for waste collection system  based  on  Extended  Producer  Responsibility.  CPCB  has  also  issued  guidelines  for utilization  of  plastic  waste  in  road  construction,  cement  kilns  and  usage  as  liquid  RDF (oil).Further,  through  the  CRZ  Notification,  2018  several  activities  are  prohibited  in  the  CRZ areas like setting up and expansion of units or mechanism for disposal of wastes and effluents, except for some essential activities.

The  Rules  mandate  every  urban  local  body  for  setting  up  of  infrastructure  for  collection, segregation and processing, including recycling and disposal of plastic waste. The local bodies have  also  been  mandated  to  create  awareness  among  all  stakeholders  about  their  respective responsibilities.

(c) to (e) There  is no  statistics  in  the  Ministry  of  Fisheries,  Animal  Husbandry  & Dairyingrelating to death of cows due to consumption of plastic waste. However, Government of India is providing grant-in-aid to animal welfare organizations in the country through the Animal Welfare Board of India for construction of shelters for looking after such animals. The grant-inaid is provided mainly to gaushalas for construction of shelter, dispensary, compound wall, water facilities, drains and other miscellaneous work.

Ministry has taken several measures for the management of plastic waste. Considering the high environmental cost associated with the use of single-use plastic, particularly the adverse effect on soil,  water  bodies  and  on  marine environment, Hon'ble Prime Minister has announced India's pledge to phase out Single-use plastic by 2022. Many States/UTs through their own notifications have  also  imposed  partial  or  complete  prohibition  on  the  use  of  plastic  carry  bags/single  use plastic. 23 States and 9 UTs have issued notifications/orders introducing regulations pertaining to complete ban on plastic carry bags and/or other single-use plastic items.

On  the  call  of  Hon'ble  Prime  Minister,  a  three-phase  campaign  'Swachhta  Hi  Sewa'  was launched  from  11th  September  2019,  which  ended  on  Diwali  i.e.  27th  October,  2019.Under 'Swachhta hi Seva', common public of the country  came together in masses on 2nd October, 2019 and collected Single Use Plastic from the houses, streets etc and the Urban Local Bodies, Gram Panchayats  etcmade  arrangements  for  deposit  this  plastic  at  a  designated  location.  The start-ups, technical bodies and corporates came forward with their plans to recycle the collected plastic waste.

The  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  is  implementing  Environment Education, Awareness and Training scheme. Under the National Green Corps (NGC) programme of the Ministry, about one lakh schools have been identified as Eco-clubs, wherein, nearly thirty lakh  students  are  actively  participating  in  various  environment  protection  and  conservation activities including plastic waste management.

The Ministry launched the Green Good Deed (GGDs) movement which is social movement with the aim of bringing about mass environmental awareness in the society at all levels.

Further, for spreading awareness among the coastal cities and towns, beach cleaning drive was initiated to clean 50 beaches from 11th Nov to 17th Nov, 2019.

The Ministry had issued 'Standard Guidelines for Single-Use Plastic' on 21 st January 2019 to all States/UTs and Ministries. The  Standard guidelines entailed  waste  management  system improvements, legal options for States/UTs to prohibit SUP items through regulatory measures, eco-friendly  alternatives,  social  awareness  and  public  education.  The  guidelines  also  included measures to be taken by government offices.

Advisories/Instructions were also issued to Chief Electoral Officers in the State during General Election  2019  regarding  phase  out  of  Single  Use  Plastic.  Instructions  were  also  issued  to Ministries,  Departments, Offices  under the jurisdiction  of  the  Governments,  Regional  Offices, Schools,  Corporates,  Major  PSUs,  Institutions  in  2018  &  2019  to  prohibit  SUP  products including water bottles, take away coffee cups, lunch wrapped in disposable plastic packaging, plastic bags, disposable food containers, plates and containers made of polystyrene foam, plastic straws etc. from their offices.

Government has identified Compostable plastic as one of the alternative. To promote the use of compostable  plastic,  the  provision  of  minimum  thickness  of  fifty  microns  has  been  made inapplicable to carry bags made up of compostable plastic, conforming IS/ISO 17088. Some of the State Governments which have banned the use of plastic bags in their respective states are allowing only compostable plastic bags for plant nurseries,horticulture, agriculture and other use. Apart from the traditional material like jute bags, leaf plates, bamboo cutleries, the new material like bagasse based products, banana stem based productsetc are now widely available in market.

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