Environment ministry launches ‘Prakriti’ to tackle waste production

NEW DELHI: Several green initiatives were rolled out by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India to tackle the issue of plastic waste generation, on April 5, 2022. Bhupinder Yadav, Minister for Environment, Government of India launched ‘Prakriti’, a mascot for promotion of plastic waste management. It aims to spread awareness about elimination of single use plastic by advocating for small changes in daily life for more sustainable living.

India generates about 3.5 million tons of plastic waste annually, which has also been linked to air pollution, Yadav added,emphasising the pressing need to deal with this issue. The Central Pollution Control Board has also announced that all single use plastic products will be banned from July 1, 2022.

Various other green initiatives were also launched, including National Dashboard on Elimination of Single Use Plastic and Plastic Waste Management, to bring all stakeholders under one umbrella. It will manage single use plastic andExtended Producer Responsibility (EPR) portal to improve traceability, accountability and ensure EPR compliance by producers and brand owners. A mobile app for Single-Use Plastics Grievance Redressal was also floated. Industrial production of Graphene from waste plastic was another initiative to promote more industries to up cycle plastic waste.

These efforts are in keeping with the measures suggested in the recently released IPCC Working Group III contribution to the 6th IPCC Assessment Report (AR6) for Plastic Waste Management.