Norway welcomes India's single-use plastic ban, praises PM Modi for 'important step'

New Delhi [India], July 1 (ANI): Norway's charge d'affaires, Martine Aamdal Bottheim on Friday welcomed the Centre's decision of 'single-use plastic ban' in India and congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking the 'important step.'
"I would really like to congratulate India and Prime Minister Modi for this important step of banning single use plastic items.This will reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in nature and in the oceans. And it will also reduce the amount of plastic that needs to be collected and recycled into the sea and it comes into the air that we breath," Bottheim told ANI.
The Norwegian envoy highlighted the problem of pollution of the oceans and air and said, "We share the oceans and we share the air so this is a global problem," adding that it is important that India should succeed in its effort.
Talking about the steps taken by the Norway embassy, the envoy said, "What we have done here at the Embassy today is that we have decided to eliminate single-use plastic items in our premises, including some that are not on the lists in India, like plastic bottles and I feel that the colleagues at the embassy are very supportive and very enthusiastic about this."
She mentioned that Norway already abolished plastic items last year and yesterday, the Embassy had held a workshop with Indian Municipalities on sharing lessons learned on how to manage plastic waste.
The Centre's guidelines to states asking them to ban the use of select single-use plastics came into effect on Friday.
Single-use plastics are typically items that are discarded after being used only once and do not go through the recycling process.
Earbuds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene (thermocol) for decoration, plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 microns and stirrers are categorized under the new reform.
The adverse impacts linked to littered single-use plastic items on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are globally recognized. (ANI)