Article Title: Single use food, beverage packaging forms 84 % of Himalayan plastic waste
10-05-2025
Environment & Ecology Current Affairs Analysis
Context
• Single-use food and beverage packaging forms more than 84% of the plastic waste in the eco-sensitive Himalayan region, an anti-waste collective of NGOs has found.
Single-Use Plastics
• Single-Use Plastics are items used once and then thrown away or recycled, like plastic bags, straws, bottles, and food packaging. About half of all plastics used are single-use.
• Unfortunately, since recycling rates are low, plastic that ends up in the ocean harms marine life and can be toxic. These harmful chemicals can also enter our food and water, causing health issues.
• Health Risks: Some single-use plastics contain harmful chemicals like BPA and phthalates, which can leach into food and beverages, potentially causing health issues, especially when plastics are used for heating or storing food.
• Climate Change: The production and disposal of SUPs contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, adding to the problem of climate change.
• Microplastics in Food: Microplastics that contaminate water sources and marine life can eventually enter the human food chain, raising concerns about potential health risks.
• India banned 19 identified single-use plastic items in 2021, but it fell short of addressing the broader spectrum of single-use plastics still in circulation.
• The annual share of banned single-use plastic items is roughly 0.6 million tonnes per year.
• The remaining single-use plastic items, comprising mostly packaging products, are covered under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy introduced by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) in 2022.
• The EPR policy specifies target collection and recycling, ignoring the fact that some single-use plastics that are not banned (such as multilayered packaging) are non-recyclable.
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