Environment needs our urgent attention
Hindustan TimesToday marks the 50th anniversary of World Environment Day. “World Environment Day 2023 is a reminder that people’s actions on plastic pollution matter. In 2018, as the global host of UN World Environment Day, India promised to phase out single-use plastic by 2022. As per CPCB’s 2019 annual report, “None of the states/Union territories have reported submission of annual reports by all village panchayats.” Try searching for the total amount of plastic waste generated in the country, and you will get several sites quoting – “India generates around 3.4 million tonnes of plastic waste.” This is like an evergreen hit playing in a loop, but it is wrong. This number was generated when only 14 of India’s 35 regional pollution boards filed information on plastic waste generation, and CPCB had to approach the National Green Tribunal to enforce the implementation of plastic waste management rules by non-compliant states.