Plastic ban: Garment and food packaging industry may get relief

The state government may decide to exempt garment and food packaging material from plastic ban. However, plastic manufacturers will have to follow state government guidelines, while using the exempted plastic packaging material.

The exempted material may include food packages, garment packaging material, etc. A discussion/ meeting was held between the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and plastic manufacturing associations on Thursday. A senior government official from the state environment department, who was a part of the high-level meeting, said: “We are willing to cooperate, but the plastic manufacturers will have to adhere to the directives set by the government. Plastic manufacturers will now have to mention the name, address and contact number of their registered firms. Also, they will have to obtain the registered number from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), which will have to be mentioned on the packaging material. This will fix responsibility.”

Another official said: “There has to be a robust buyback plastic collection system. It should be an integrated system, with a strong network of rag pickers, scrap dealers, and NGOs, ensuring zero plastic littering. In a bid to consume a lot of the waste plastic, it has been decided to make it compulsory to use 8 per cent of the discarded plastic for construction of roads. For the ban to work effectively, plastic associations and people need to be a part of this plastic ban movement.”

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“We had made it clear that plastic bags will be banned. Plastic packaging material size should not be less than 50 microns. But, CM Fadnavis and environment minister Ramdas Kadam will take the final call,” said another official.

Source: DNA India