• Environment minister Prakash Javadekar said this will be brought about by a new principle of Extended Producers Responsibility Act.
• Those industries using plastic will have to pay proportionately towards collection through the same distribution system they use for retailing their products.
• Such industries will be liable to lose their certification for operations if they do not abide by the norms.
• However he could not specify the extent of fines that would be imposed on the manufacturers or how exactly the monitoring system will operate.
• The government also aims to standardise the 50 micron size plastic bags as opposed to the 40 micron ones, which was the minimum permissible limit earlier.

Did You Know?

• Plastic needs about 450 years just to start decomposing. Then, it takes another 50-80 years to decompose completely.
• The word ‘plastic’ comes from the Greek plastikos, meaning ‘capable of being shaped and moulded.
• 90% of the price you pay for the bottled water goes to the plastic bottle, while the water cost you only 10% of the money you give.
• Recycling a single plastic bottle can conserve enough energy to light a 60W bulb for up to 6 hours.
• Recycling plastics can save up to 2/3 of the needed energy for producing plastic from raw materials.
• Bottling and shipping water is the least energy efficient method ever used to supply water. Unfortunately, it remains the most popular one.