A review of the draft Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2015

The new rules propose to increase the thickness of plastic bags to 50 microns so that their cost discourages people from using them. But …

Reporting losses

The Ranganath Misra Committee's report on managing plastic waste is out. Will it fail to deliver like the earlier National Plastics Waste …

Will the plastic carry-ban in Delhi be enforced this time?

In spite of separate bans ordered by both the court and the government, use of plastic bags has not stopped

How plastic-producing companies can make waste recycling viable

Globally, companies are collecting and processing waste through producer responsibility organisations

Centre amends Plastic Waste Rules, but misses out on strengthening implementation

The amendment does not address the issue of changes needed in plastic waste rules concerning extended producer responsibility

State of waste: plastics

India generates around 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste a day, of which Delhi contributes the largest share (689.52 tonnes a day).

जल प्रदूषण दूर करने में मददगार हो सकता है प्लास्टिक कचरा

वैज्ञानिकों ने पॉलिएथलीन टेरेफ्थैलेट कचरे को ऐसी उपयो�…

Some vertical gardens

Ludhiana's Income-Tax department officials have turned plastic into greenery on a wall under the Green-Plastic Initiative

Faulty policies allow unchecked use of multilayered plastic

The government has no clue how to deal with multilayered plastic and the industry has been aided by the government’s lackadaisical attitude

Microplastics are getting into mosquitoes and contaminating new food chains

Once inside an animal, the plastic can transfer via the food chain into fish and other creatures and eventually become a potential …

How Uttar Pradesh can avoid patchy implementation of plastic ban

Uttar Pradesh, which generates over 130,000 tonnes of plastic waste annually, needs to take early measures to facilitate the transition

World at a loss as China bans import of plastic waste

In 2017, China imported 7.3 million metric tonnes of waste, including metal, plastics and paper among other waste materials

Plastic or no plastic?

Self-sufficiency and plastic ban

Imagine a scenario where packaging isn’t easy and cheap. The need would be, then, to create a self-sufficient neighbourhood 

Plastic-eating bacteria won't check plastic waste, reducing our consumption will

New discoveries and improvements of plastic eating bacteria notwithstanding, humans cannot ignore their consumption choices

Plastic waste can be used for decontamination of water

This newly developed low-cost magnetic nanomaterial has the adsorptive potential for cephalexin from the water

Future of plastics: reusing the bad and encouraging the good

Tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean each year, but a switch away from petroleum-based products to bio-derived and degradable composites could …

Whose waste is it?

Producers are shifting their plastic recovery responsibility to other companies

In hope of a plastic waste-free island

Although Zanzibar is cashing in on tourism, it is also battling plastic menace in the form of litter consisting of discarded water bottles and …

Indonesia's ancestral community embraces drones, computers while preserving traditions

Indonesia’s Ciptagelar community, 130 km southwest of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, is in many ways both a model smart village …

11 billion pieces of plastic bring disease threat to coral reefs

Coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific have been deluged with an estimated 11.1 billion pieces of plastic waste, increasing the risk of coral disease …

China bans foreign waste – but what will happen to the world's recycling?

The world's largest recyclable materials importer will leave other countries searching for alternative waste management solutions

Nigeria well placed to beat plastic pollution: Vice President

Government and corporations have started working on different programmes aimed at reducing plastic pollution

‘The world doesn’t need a treaty on plastic waste reduction’

UNEP chief Erik Solheim, during his visit to India, the global host for World Environment Day, says unlike climate change, plastic waste can be …

Waste and sanitation in news on April 17

Here’s a round-up of today’s news reports and developments around water and sanitation