India to eliminate single-use plastics within 3 years

NEW DELHI – India is launching an ambitious campaign to eliminate single-use plastics within three years.

Environment ministry official Chintan Mishra says efforts to “sensitize” the public against single-use plastics started Wednesday, the 150th anniversary of independence leader Mohandas Gandhi’s birth.

Mishra announced the campaign at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in New Delhi.

Most Indian states already have some regulations on single-use plastics. The central government is ordering all states to end their use by 2022.

India generates about 15 million kilograms (33 million pounds) of plastic waste every day, of which about 60% is collected and recycled. That’s roughly 11 kilograms (24 pounds) of waste per capita per year, compared to 28 kilograms (62 pounds) globally, according to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.