Plastic poison: It’s creeping up on you

Imagine this: On a congested street in Bengaluru, a street vendor goes about her daily routine of serving delicious chaat to a long line of customers. But one familiar item is no longer used as freely as before. Biodegradable spoons have replaced the old plastic ones. The change is a result of the government’s decision to ban single-use plastics.

However, this change comes at a cost. The vendor, who previously spent ₹Rs 0.20 on a plastic spoon, now must spend ₹Rs 1 or more on each biodegradable spoon, translating into an additional ₹Rs 100 per day — over ₹Rs 3,000 each month.

For the small vendor, it matters not that the ban was imposed as a move towards sustainability — only that it has caused higher financial strain without adequate institutional support to help the transition.

Ambitious policy versus ground reality

Plastic pollution has become a near-universal concern. More than 400 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated globally each year, and global production of primary plastic is projected to reach 1,100 million tonnes by 2050. A large part of this is designed for short-term use — ending up in landfills, oceans, or incinerators within weeks. Microplastics have now been found in drinking water, human blood, and even the placentas of newborns.

India, too, has faced the brunt of this crisis. The plastic consumption in the country has grown exponentially year upon year (now at over 20 million tonnes), consequently leading to greater plastic waste output. The country generated about 3.5 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2023, but barely 30% was recycled — by informal workers such as ragpickers and waste sorters.

In response to the plastic pollution crisis, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2022 introduced a nationwide ban on several single-use plastic items with “low utility and high-litter potential”. This was an ambitious policy move for a country of 1.4 billion people. Three years later, the ground reality continues to be complicated. Despite the ban, challenges in enforcement, disparities in impact, and infrastructural deficits hinder its effectiveness.

Did anything change after the ban?

The single-use plastic ban in 2022 targeted a range of everyday throwaway items, things used briefly but with a lasting environmental footprint. The hope was that this ban would not just clean up our streets but also signal a broader shift in how the country confronts its growing plastic crisis.

The government outlined directives for the implementation of the ban, emphasising the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, including State Pollution Control Boards and Committees, the Central Pollution Control Board, and local urban authorities.

In the early months, the policy did have traction. A one-month-long nationwide enforcement campaign was conducted in July 2022, targeting the “manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use” of identified single-use plastic items. During this period, authorities seized approximately 775 tonnes of banned plastic materials and imposed penalties amounting to Rs 5.8 crore on violators. Government authorities in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai conducted raids, seized plastic stocks, and launched awareness drives. For a time, cotton bags were back in fashion.

Gaps in enforcement

Over time, enforcement has waned. Today, many banned single-use plastic items like thin plastic bags are back in circulation, especially in smaller towns and markets where municipal enforcement is limited. Even in the larger metros, these banned items are quietly reappearing in packaging, retail counters, and delivery services. Part of the confusion stems from poor communication and unclear alternatives. While compliance is visible in pockets, especially in corporate settings, there has been no comprehensive shift in consumer behaviour across the board.

One of the main challenges has been disparate enforcement across states and cities. While some states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have undertaken sustained actions, most others have resorted to one-off raids without follow-up. Further, there is no central database on fines collected, violations reported, or penalties for repeat offenders. The Central Pollution Control Board has developed a citizen-reporting mobile app—SUP-CPCB—that allows users to report violations. But awareness of this mechanism is low, and its practical use remains limited even in urban tech-savvy circles.

While plastic waste is a nationwide concern, its impact is particularly pronounced in urban areas. Urban centres, with their high population densities and consumption patterns, generate a significant portion of India’s plastic waste. The situation is exacerbated by inadequate waste management infrastructure, leading to challenges in effective plastic waste disposal. Looking ahead, the issue is poised to intensify as the share of urban population in India will cross 40% by 2030 and is projected to reach 600 million by 2036. 

Who bears the brunt?

More worrying is the imbalance in who gets held accountable. The plastic ban has disproportionately affected the informal sector — especially micro-entrepreneurs, small vendors, hawkers, and food stalls who rely on cheap disposables to serve customers. These stakeholders lack the resources to transition to sustainable alternatives. For them, switching to eco-friendly materials is not a matter of choice but cost. Alternatives like starch-based containers, while environmentally sound, can be 30% more expensive than plastic and typically only available through wholesalers in big cities. For vendors in smaller towns, even sourcing these materials is a logistical hurdle.

While larger players in the plastic supply chain, such as the manufacturers, distributors, and FMCG brands, often operate without disruption, enforcement has focused on downstream users like street vendors, small shopkeepers, and informal traders, who find themselves at the mercy of inconsistent and arbitrary enforcement measures.

This gap raises important questions about how we define fairness and responsibility in the push for sustainability and speaks of an inequitable policy structure where those with the least resources face the strictest scrutiny — while those with the most impact face few consequences.

Rethinking accountability

While much of the public conversation has focused on the visible side of plastic, with what we use, throw, or avoid, it is just as important to look upstream. The producers of plastic, especially manufacturers of multilayered packaging and fast-moving consumer goods, play a central role in the plastic life cycle. This is where we can deepen the dialogue on accountability and shift more attention to what happens before the plastic even reaches the consumer.

India’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework was designed to correct this imbalance by making producers responsible for the collection and processing of post-consumer plastic waste. It is a promising idea and one that, if implemented well, could shift accountability higher up the value chain. But on the ground, EPR still faces several hurdles. Monitoring is inconsistent, data reporting is patchy, and compliance levels remain unclear. Many registered producers are yet to demonstrate how they are meeting collection targets, and third-party audits are limited.

Then there is the question of imports. Low-cost single-use plastic items continue to enter Indian markets through informal routes and loosely monitored supply chains. Without a unified national framework to regulate both domestic production and imports, enforcement remains uneven and incomplete.

Still playing catch-up

Even the best policies need an ecosystem to succeed. In the case of India’s plastic ban, that ecosystem is our waste management infrastructure. National estimates suggest that about 60% of plastic waste is collected, but less than half of that gets recycled. A large share of this effort is carried out by informal workers such as waste pickers and sorters, and although their role is critical, their work remains undervalued and unsupported.

The capacity gap is particularly visible when it comes to segregation and processing facilities. Cities like Indore and Pune have made notable strides through investments in decentralised waste collection, strong citizen engagement, and on-ground awareness drives. But these examples remain the exception rather than the rule. In many smaller towns and semi-urban areas, local bodies are constrained by limited funds, logistical challenges, and a lack of training and infrastructure.

The impact of these gaps is visible in our landscapes. In places like the Adyar riverbed in Chennai, mismanaged plastic waste is regularly dumped or burned despite the National Green Tribunal banning such practices. This not only adds to air and water pollution but also undermines environmental gains made elsewhere. Similar stories play out along urban drains, empty plots, and village peripheries.

Innovation at the grassroots

Yet amidst the complexity, something quiet and promising is taking shape across India’s cities and communities. While national policy provides the framework, it is often at the local level that innovation and adaptation are most visible.

In Vadodara, efforts to rejuvenate the Vishwamitri river have included engaging local sanitation workers and rag pickers in organised plastic clean-up drives. These grassroots collaborations not only restore ecosystems but also bring dignity and recognition to informal waste workers who are too often overlooked in formal plans. Elsewhere, small villages in Kerala have begun using decentralised plastic shredders, simple machines installed at the panchayat level that allow waste to be processed close to where it is generated.

Municipal bodies are stepping up, too. In Bhubaneswar, the city’s Smart City initiative has found a way to make enforcement more inclusive. Vendors fined for plastic use are given cloth bags equal in value to their penalty. A Rs 10,000 fine, for instance, results in 312 reusable cotton bags that are practical and ready for immediate use. It is a thoughtful model that turns regulation into opportunity and signals that change does not have to come at the cost of livelihoods.

And then there’s technology. The Central Pollution Control Board’s Single Use Plastic (SUP) app allows citizens to report violations by uploading geotagged images. This is a small yet significant move toward participatory enforcement. because it reflects how people are not just being asked to follow the rules, but also to help shape and uphold them.

Behavioural change is key

The road ahead is not about a single sweeping solution but about many coordinated steps, taken together, by a wide range of stakeholders.

At the policy level, there’s growing recognition that regulation must go beyond end-use bans. What is needed is a lifecycle approach that addresses how plastic is produced, how it’s used and most importantly, how it’s managed after disposal. Strengthening Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), encouraging alternatives in product design, and aligning state-level actions with national targets can help move the system toward greater accountability and circularity.

For small businesses, particularly those in India’s informal economy, the transition away from SUPs must be made more practical. Financial incentives, bulk procurement of sustainable packaging, and investments in supply chain access are essential. Cooperative models, like those piloted in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, show how this support can be built into local ecosystems.

Behavioural change will also play a central role. Short-term awareness campaigns often make a splash, but long-term shifts come from consistent, culturally relevant messaging, whether through schools, citizen groups, or local influencers.

Finally, India does not have to walk this path alone. As global conversations around a Global Plastics Treaty gather momentum, India can help shape these frameworks by bringing its unique development context, environmental leadership, and scale of ambition to the table, aligning domestic efforts with international cooperation.

Venkatesh Raghavendra is a global social entrepreneur. Pragya Raj Singh is a development professional working at the intersection of policy, advocacy, and community-driven initiatives. Sruthakeerthy Sriram is a lawyer and public policy professional.