Single-Use Plastic Ban Policy in Tamil Nadu- Exploring the Stakeholders’ Perspectives on the Challenges and Best Practices for Reducing Plastic Pollution

The increasing production and consumption of single-use plastic packaging is a major issue in developing countries. This has been worsened by rapid urbanization and the growth of informal settlements, coupled with inadequate formal refuse collection capacity. The result is illegal dumping sites and inappropriate disposal of plastics, such as street littering, especially in informal settlements, which have been identified as the major sources of plastic pollution. The consequences of plastic pollution are severe, affecting the social-ecological system, including environmental beauty, quality of human life, health, ecological processes, terrestrial wildlife and marine species. As a definite step to curb the littering of single-use plastic, the government of India banned the manufacture and import of single-use plastic items across the country. Following this, many states including Tamil nadu have passed laws to ban single-use plastics. With a stringent approach by imposing a statewide ban, this research paper comprehensively presents the perceptions of the various stakeholders influenced by this policy. The results of the study indicate that even though awareness about the adverse effects of single-use plastics has improved, practical difficulties are encountered by all the stakeholders in the effective implementation of the policy.