India bans 19 single-use plastic products, including cups and straws

India has imposed a ban on several single-use plastic products, including cups and straws, in an effort to help reduce pollution, Al Jazeera reports.

Driving the news: The ban makes it illegal to produce, import, stock, distribute or sell 19 plastic items that are likely to become litter, per NPR.

• This includes plastic straws, cups, cutlery, ice cream sticks and cigarette packets, according to Al Jazeera. Some disposable plastic bags will also be replaced with thicker ones that can be reused.
• While other plastic products are not covered by the ban, manufacturers will eventually be responsible for recycling or disposing of them, per NPR.

The big picture: Most of the world's plastic is not recycled. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, less than 10% of the 7 billion tons of plastic waste that the world has produced thus far has been recycled.

• Single-use plastics, which are meant to be used once and thrown away, are a major contributor to plastic waste.

Within the United States, individual states and agencies have also made efforts to reduce single-use plastic.

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law the "toughest plastics reduction rules" in the nation on Thursday.
• The Department of the Interior announced in June that it is aiming to phase out single-use plastics at the country's national parks by 2032.