Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey further told the House of Lords that in order to tackle plastic pollution through effective measures, MoEFCC notified the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules 2016
Published Date – 08:00 AM, Fri – 7 April 23
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New Delhi: The federal government told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that as many as 1,340 monitoring stations have been set up in 489 towns and cities across the country to monitor ambient air quality.
Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha that the ministry launched the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) in January 2019 to improve air quality in 131 cities (non-attainment cities) and million-plus cities in 24 states, engaging all stakeholders.
He further said it envisages achieving a 40% reduction in particulate matter 10 (PM 10 ) concentrations by 2025-26 or meeting the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
“Under the plan, cities are required to take measures to improve air quality, which include solid waste management, control of pollution from biomass burning, and air pollution from construction and demolition activities,” he further said.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban 2.0’ initiative to establish solid waste management treatment facilities in 152 cities, rehabilitate all legacy waste dumps in all cities, C&D waste management and procure mechanical road sweepers in towns , which includes the 131 cities covered by NCAP.
MoEFCC has notified the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, which provide a statutory framework for solid waste management in the country.
The rules require local authorities and village councils of census towns and urban agglomerations to only allow the use of non-usable, non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, non-combustible and non-reactive inert waste and pre-treatment waste and residues from waste treatment processes Facility goes to sanitary landfill.
The minister further told the House of Lords that in order to take effective measures to tackle plastic pollution, the MoEFCC had notified the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2016.
“MoEFCC issued a notice in August 2021 to phase out 12 single-use plastic (SUP) items from 1 July 2022. Plastic packaging waste not covered by the identified phase-out of single-use plastic items will be collected And managed in an environmentally sustainable manner through the Extended Producer Responsibility guidelines notified by MoEFCC on 16 February 2022,” he added.
