India ban on 19 single-use plastic items
India’s Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules banned 19 single-use plastic items from 1 July 2022, with enforcement widely reported as weak.
Asia
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China phased single-use plastics restrictions
China’s 2020 plan bans non-degradable bags in major cities, single-use straws in food service and polystyrene foam tableware, with national standards now referencing design…
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Japan mandatory plastic bag charge and Plastic Resource Circulation Act
Japan made retailers charge for plastic shopping bags from July 2020 and, from April 2022, requires businesses to reduce twelve single-use plastic items.
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Bangladesh polythene bag ban
Bangladesh was the first country to ban thin polythene bags, in 2002, after they blocked drains and worsened flooding; enforcement lapsed and was relaunched…
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More than 1,000 rivers carry 80% of plastic into the sea, not just ten
Ocean plastic comes from thousands of small urban rivers, overturning the earlier claim that ten big rivers carry 90% of it.
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Plastic detected in almost every human brain sample, at much lower levels
A 2026 study found micro- and nanoplastics in all 35 healthy brain samples and in 99.4% of samples from people with brain tumours.
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One plastic chemical linked to 356,000 heart-disease deaths a year
New York University (NYU) researchers estimate the plasticiser di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) was linked to 13.5% of all cardiovascular deaths among 55–64-year-olds worldwide in 2018.
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Plastic touching coral raises disease risk from 4% to 89%
A survey of 124,000 corals across the Asia-Pacific found plastic debris multiplies the chance of coral disease more than twenty-fold.
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Plastics’ carbon footprint doubled in 20 years as production moved to coal power
ETH Zurich researchers found plastics accounted for 4.5% of global emissions in 2015, with coal-based emissions quadrupling since 1995.
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heart-disease deaths a year linked to the plasticiser di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)
DEHP is a chemical added to make plastic soft and flexible. It was linked to 13.5% of all cardiovascular deaths among 55–64-year-olds worldwide in…