Vidarbha Plastic Industries Association (VPIA) in association with Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA), Butibori Manufacturers Association (BMA), MIDC Industries Association (MIA), COSIA, VED, LUB and NVCC organised a technical seminar on “Single Use plastic†considering that the ban of few items shall come into force from 1st July at VIA Auditorium, Nagpur. The seminar was conducted in presence of Regional Officer of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) Nagpur and Chandrapur, Ashok Kare and Sub regional officers – Anand Katole, Umashankar Bahadule and Hema Deshpande.
Earlier, Rakesh Surana, President – VPIA urged the manufacturers not to manufacture any of the banned items and requested MPCB officials to provide clarity on items where there was a confusion which the officers tried to do. Meanwhile the association will make representation at the ministry level to seek clarity for the same.
The technical seminar was conducted by Nishat Birla and Vidhan Bhartia covering the status of the rule, Extended Producers Responsibility(EPR) and its implementation. The following items have been banned from 1st July :
Plastic Sticks : earbuds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene (Thermocol) for decoration.
Cutlery items : plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays
Packing/wrapping films : Wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets.
Other items : Plastic or PVC banners less than 100 microns, stirrers.
The manufacturers raised several issues including that Maharashtra plastic rules are stricter than neighbouring states which is making survival tougher for industries and making them incompetent. Also goods from other states are being sold here which they are prohibited to manufacture which the department noted and assured action.
Girdhari Mantri, briefed about the plastic waste management, single use plastic, status, EPR, its implementation and also requested the officials of MPCB to clear the doubts of participants / manufacturing units / traders about single use plastic.
Dr Prashant Agarwal, Secretary – VPIA moderated the session and also thanked the officials for their support and all the associations for attending the event.
Prominently present were Prafull Doshi, Vishal Agrawal, Dilip Gandhi, Shrikant Dhondrikar, Kapil Bokare as well as event was attended by members of VPIA, VIA, BMA, MIA, COSIA, VED, LUB and NVCC.
