India has banned most single-use plastics from July 1, 2022, which of course includes plastic straws.
About 60% of plastic waste in India is collected — that means the remaining 40% or 10,376 tons remain uncollected1
Why ban single-use plastic Straws?
Plastic straws are non-biodegradable, meaning that they can’t be naturally broken down by decomposers. And add to that, they are not accepted by recycling facilities because they jam recycling machinery due to their small size. Therefore, plastic straws can’t be recycled.
To make matters worse, if plastic straws get into the ocean, they can be mistaken for food by marine animals. When animals ingest plastic, it clogs up their digestive systems, which can easily choke or kill animals like birds or sea turtles.
Did you know?
- Plastic Straws are the 11th most found ocean trash
- 150 million metric tons of plastic are currently in our oceans, rivers, and waterways
- 8 million additional metric tons of plastic go into the sea every year
- 1.000.000 Seabirds & 100.000 marine animals die every year from digesting plastic
- It takes up to 200 years for a plastic straw to decompose
1Αccording to Anoop Srivastava, director of the Foundation for Campaign Against Plastic Pollution, a non-profit organization advocating for policy changes to tackle plastic waste in India. https://capp.org.in