On Tuesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered a ban on the production and consumption of plastic-coated and laminated items.
The Maharashtra government banned the manufacture, use, sale, distribution, and storage of plastic materials such as single-use bags, utensils, plates, PET and PETE bottles, and thermocol goods from March 23, 2018. The government then gave the current stock three months to be disposed of.
An empowered committee formed for effective implementation of the ban on plastic, in its meeting held on July 7 this year, resolved to make amendments in the Maharashtra Plastic and Thermocol Products (Manufacture, Usage, Sale, Transport, Handling and Storage), Notification, 2018. Based on the recommendations, a notification was issued on July 15, issuing a ban on plastic-coated and laminated disposable dish, cups, plates, glasses, fork, bowl and container (single-use products) made from paper or aluminium.
The central government had already announced a ban on the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single-use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential, across the country from July 1 . The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, on 12 August, 2021.
The Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, also prohibits manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of plastic carry bags with thickness of less than 75 microns with effect from September 30, 2021, and with lower thickness than 120 microns with effect from December 31, 2022.
‘The government has decided to ban plastic-coated goods to reduce the influx of sub-standard plastic that pose a threat. We have decided to ban them,’ said Shinde.
