UGC asks universities, colleges to work on banning single use plastic

The move comes ahead of this year’s COP26 meeting that will begin in Glasgow on 31 October, where the United Nations, country representatives and experts will seek to build a consensus on mitigation, adaptation and cooperation to tackle climate change.

“All universities and affiliated colleges and institutes are requested to carry out the awareness program thoroughly so as to have maximum visibility to avoid the use of single-use plastic (and)… and share the action report,” University Grants Commission (UGC) has written.

The higher education regulator wrote that the government has launched a 75-week campaign to celebrate the achievements of the country and its people. The UGC wrote, “The awareness program to avoid the use of single-use plastic has been identified as a theme…

It also shared the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules 2021, which required those items to be banned because they have “low utility and high litter potential”.

The central government has decided to ban the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of various plastic products by the end of 2022. The permissible thickness of plastic carry bags, currently at 50 microns, has gone up to 75 microns. at the end of September, and will increase to 120 microns from the end of 2022.

Plastic flags, polystyrene for decoration (thermocol), single-use plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, wrapping film around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners of less than 100 microns thickness including products will be banned. It will be implemented from July 2022.

“There are over 50,000 colleges and universities in India that cater to over 37 million youth and they are changing their usage patterns and adopting eco-friendly practices will go a long way. This will have a huge impact on educational institutions and families and others in its vicinity. A government official on condition of anonymity said, while the intention is fine, implementation will be important here as well.

The official said that single-use plastic ban is a topic of discussion across the country and its alternatives are being debated. The 13-day Glasgow meeting is expected to debate climate risk mitigation measures, the responsibility of countries and their individual and collective efforts to reduce emissions, adopt clean energy and follow eco-friendly practices.

“Educational institutions may not be a big source of emissions but play a vital role in bringing about a positive change not only amongst the youth but also in the establishments where they will work as the employees of the future. The impact and need for climate risk mitigation has increased since the 2015 Paris Agreement and in the past 18 months since the outbreak of the pandemic,” the official said.