CNN's Akanksha Sharma contributed to this report. India ’s prime minister , Narendra Modi , pledged to ban single - use plastics during his Independence Day Speech in Delhi on 15 August . Around 70 % of the country ’s plastic is discarded and most India cities fail to process it , according to the ministry of environment ’s central pollution control board . India ’s Ganges River is second only to the Yangtze in China in the volume of plastic it releases to the world ’s oceans . In 2018 , Modi called for a crackdown on plastic pollution and said India would eradicate single - use plastic by 2022 .
India ’s prime minister , Narendra Modi , pledged to ban single - use plastics during his Independence Day Speech in Delhi on 15 August . Around 70 % of the country ’s plastic is discarded and most India cities fail to process it , according to the ministry of environment ’s central pollution control board . India ’s Ganges River is second only to the Yangtze in China in the volume of plastic it releases to the world ’s oceans . In 2018 , Modi called for a crackdown on plastic pollution and said India would eradicate single - use plastic by 2022 .