Chaos over ban: Aaditya Thackeray meets Ramdas Kadam

Retailers and traders at the receiving end of punitive action due to the ban on plastic may soon find respite. The state government will ask urban local bodies to go soft on plastic used for retail packaging of food items instead of penalising shopkeepers.

State environment department sources said bulk consumers like malls, marriage halls, theatres, multiplexes, commercial complexes, government offices and institutions would be asked to set up collection points for plastic waste. This will later be collected by producers or municipal bodies for recycling and processing.

On Wednesday, Yuva Sena chief and Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray met environment minister Ramdas Kadam to discuss how the implementation of the ban could be smoothened to prevent difficulties to stakeholders. The state government will also issue an indicative pictorial list of plastic items that are allowed and banned and also run an awareness campaign to sort out confusion.

"We have agreed in-principle to exempt the use of plastic for packaging at the retail level. Retailer bodies are complaining that since multi-level packaging, that is more harmful to the environment, is allowed for factory-manufactured products like chips, the use of plastic should be allowed for them.... however, this will apply to packaging of foodstuffs and not loose items like milk and curd," an official said.

This will be made part of recommendations by an expert committee, which in-turn will be tabled before a group of ministers for final approval.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) will also hold divisional commissionerate level meetings to clarify to enforcing officials which products are allowed, banned and are in the consideration zone.

"We will ask them to refrain from taking any coercive action against items in consideration zone, like plastic for packaging" he said.