India has held off implementing a complete ban on single-use plastics to curb pollution as this measure is seen as too disruptive for the industry at a time when it is coping with an economic slowdown.
The plan was for the Modi government to outlaw six items on the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, as part of a larger campaign to rid India of single-use plastics by 2022.
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But two officials said there would be no immediate ban on plastic bags, cups, plates, small bottles, straws and certain types of sachets but the government would try to curb their use.
The government’s proposed countrywide ban distressed consumer firms, which use plastic in the packaging in everything.
Plastic waste is at epidemic proportions in the world’s oceans with an estimated 100 million tonnes dumped there to date, according to the United Nations. Scientists have found large amounts of microplastic in the intestines of deep-dwelling ocean mammals like whales.
India, which uses about 14 million tonnes of plastic annually, lacks an organised system for management of plastic waste, leading to widespread littering.