The Environment Ministry has introduced rules that make it harder for makers of disposable plastic ware to label such products as ’biodegradable’, introducing a stipulation that they must not leave any microplastics behind.
Biodegradable plastic and compostable plastic are projected as the two broad kinds of technological fixes to India’s burgeoning problem of plastic waste pollution.
Biodegradable plastic involves plastic goods being treated before they are sold. When discarded, the material is expected to decompose naturally over time though there are no tests yet to determine if such plastics completely degrade. Compostable plastics, on the other hand, do degrade, but require industrial or large municipal waste management facilities to do so.
