India bans single-use plastic

India is using less plastic. Many plastic items are now illegal. Companies can't make or use them.

Every year, India throws away four million tonnes of plastic. This goes into rivers or rubbish dumps. It's bad for the environment.

It's difficult to recycle, says Dr Suneel Pandey.

Dr Suneel Pandey: "The problem is this 30 percent which is not collected, which is no value plastic, and in other terms can be called as single-use plastics."

Some businesses will close. People will lose their jobs. Other companies make plastic alternatives. These companies will grow.

Ecoware makes plastic-free food packaging. Rhea Mazumdar Singhal owns the company.

Rhea Mazumdar Singhal: "I just thought, things needed to change for humanity and the environment - and that's really how Ecoware was born.

"We wanted to create a product that was safe for humanity to eat their food out of. By that I mean that it doesn't change the nutritional value of the food that you put in it. Secondly, it had to be safe for the environment. So it wasn't going to sit in a landfill and it's not going to outlive you forever."

Cows often think plastic is food. You can see them eating plastic in the street. Even elephants eat plastic.

The ban includes cups and cotton buds. It shows how plastic is everywhere. It focuses us on the environment.

Rhea Mazumdar Singhal: "Think about from the time you have woken up today, how much plastic you have touched or came in contact with. So, it has become an integral part of our lives. It is absolutely everywhere. But we have to be cognizant about climate change. We have to be cognizant about our reliance on fossil fuels, the fact that these are things that we need to move away from."

Some people don't want the ban. They think non-plastic options are too expensive.

But the new rule is strict. You can get a $1,300 fine. You could go to prison for 5 years too.

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