NEW DELHI - India banned some single-use or disposable plastic products Friday as part of a federal plan to phase out the ubiquitous material in the nation of nearly 1.4 billion people.
It has identified 19 plastic items that aren't very useful but have a high potential to become litter and makes it illegal to produce, import, stock, distribute or sell them. These items range from plastic cups and straws to ice cream sticks. Some disposable plastic bags will be phased out and replaced with thicker ones.
Thousands of other plastic products - like bottles for water or soda or bags of chips - aren't covered by the ban. The federal government has set targets for manufacturers to be responsible for recycling or disposing of them after their use.
Plastics manufacturers had appealed to the government to delay the ban, citing inflation and potential job losses. The ban was in place for a year, according to the government of India's environmental minister Bhupender Yadav.
He said that time is up.
India said the banned items were identified while keeping in mind the availability of alternative alternatives: bamboo spoons, plantain trays, wooden ice-cream sticks. Many vendors said they were confused in the days leading up to the ban.