Aafrin Kidwai 
The Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Mr Bhupender Yadav has launched ‘Prakriti’, a mascot to spread public awareness on sustainable living and highlight various green initiatives taken by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to ensure effective Plastic Waste Management (PWM) in the country.
“Plastic has become one of the most pressing environmental issues that we are facing today. India is generating about 3.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually and the per capita plastic waste generation has almost doubled over the last five years. “Plastic pollution adversely affects our ecosystems and is also linked to air pollution,” Mr Yadav said during an event to launch the mascot.
During the event, the following green initiatives for plastic waste management were launched:
- National Dashboard on Elimination of Single Use Plastic and Plastic Waste Management (MoEFCC) to bring all stakeholders including Central Ministries/ Departments, State/UT Governments at one place and track the progress made for elimination of single use plastic (SUP) and effective management of plastic waste.
- Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Portal for Plastic Packaging (CPCB) for improving accountability, traceability, transparency and facilitating ease of reporting compliance to EPR Obligations by Producers, Importers and Brand-owners
- Mobile App for Single Use Plastics Grievance Redressal (CPCB) to empower citizens to check sale/usage/manufacturing of SUP in their area and tackle the plastic menace.
- Monitoring module for SUP (CPCB), for local bodies, SPCBs/PCCs and CPCB, to inventorize details of SUP production/ sale & usage in commercial establishments at district level, and on-ground enforcement of ban on SUP.
- Industrial production of Graphene from Waste Plastic (G B Pant NIHE & NRDC) to promote more industries to come forward to up cycle plastic waste
The event also saw the felicitation of winners of the India Plastic Challenge–Hackathon 2021. ThreeStart-ups/entrepreneurs category and four teams of students from Higher Education Institutions were awarded cash prizes of Rs. 5 Lacs and Rs. 1 Lakh respectively for their innovative ideas and digital solutions for plastic waste mitigation and elimination of Single-Use Plastics.
Disclaimer: This article is taken from a press release issued by the Press Information Bureau of India.
