While manufacturing and sale of banned items has come into effect immediately, manufacturers, retailers, traders and end-users have a month to dispose-off existing stocks.
A day after notifying its ban on plastic and thermocol, the Maharashtra government is in a mood to relent on the one-month period for manufacturers and retailers to dispose the existing stocks of banned items.
State environment minister Ramdas Kadam said they would inspect the plastic stocks within 15 days. "If these stocks are low, they can be disposed in one month, else we will discuss this with the Chief Minister, and the empowered committee of ministers will extend the time limit. We will ensure that there is no injustice against anybody," he explained.
While manufacturing and sale of banned items has come into effect immediately, manufacturers, retailers, traders and end-users have a month to dispose-off existing stocks. At the consumers end, the local bodies will collect plastic for recycling.
"The ill-effects of plastic and thermocol are many…it is estimated that around 1,100 tonne plastic is created daily," said Kadam.
The Maharashtra Plastic and Thermocol Products (Manufacture, Usage, Sale, Transport, Handling and Storage) Notification, 2018, has been issued under the means the Maharashtra Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Act, 2006.
The ban covers single-use and disposable items like plastic bags with or without handles regardless of their thickness, plastic and thermocol cutlery, disposable dishes and bowls used for food packaged in restaurants, plastic used for secondary packaging by retailers and plastic and thermocol used for decorative purposes.
Officials said civic bodies like the BMC would create designated spaces for plastic collection units and compacters to crush plastic bottles.
While introducing a buyback policy for milk bags and PET and PETE bottles used for packaging drinking water, the notification has banned usage and sale of bottles having a capacity of less than 500 ml as they were not re-used but thrown away. It is estimated that around 30 lakh such bottles are thrown around every day and the number of 500 ml bottles used daily is 25 lakh.
Kadam said shopkeepers will have to give affidavits to local bodies at the time of license renewal saying they would not use or stock these banned plastic and thermocol items, with violations leading to the license being scrapped.
To create an alternative, the state government is releasing Rs 5 crore to self-help groups to manufacture cloth bags with an equal amount being generated through CSR funds. Kadam added that many civic bodies, including the Panvel municipal corporation, had already banned plastic and distributed cloth bags to people.
Maharashtra has 100 packaged drinking water manufacturers, 950 plastic bottle manufacturing units and around 455 which produce plastic carry bags. Around 80% of plastic used in Maharashtra is sourced from other states.
Environment department officials said they would issue a circular with details of the buyback policy for plastic bottles and milk polypacks. It is estimated that around 4 lakh metric tons plastic waste is generated annually in Maharashtra with lack of state-of-the art recycling facilities leading to costs for the environment.
Violations will attract a penalty from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 and three months in jail, with offences up to Rs 10,000 being compounded by designated officers. Subsequent offences will be lodged before the court, which will decide the quantum of the penalty.
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