The Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules 2021, notified on 12 August 2021, banned the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single-use plastic items from 1 July 2022, including plastic cutlery, straws, stirrers, earbuds with plastic sticks, balloon sticks, plastic flags, candy and ice-cream sticks, polystyrene foam (thermocol) decorations, wrapping films for sweet boxes and cigarette packets. Plastic carry bags thinner than 75 microns were banned from 30 September 2021 and thinner than 120 microns from 31 December 2022.
Enforcement is the responsibility of state pollution control boards and has been widely reported as uneven, with banned items still common in markets. Further amendments added producer responsibility (2022), barcode marking (2025) and recycled-content targets (Amendment Rules notified 31 March 2026).
Status as at September 2026: in force; enforcement weak. Dates verified against the Press Information Bureau releases on the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules 2021 and the July 2022 ban on 23 September 2026.