Maharashtra Plastic Ban: Exemption for food take-away containers

The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led government may be backtracking on the plastic ban imposed in the state. Or at least inventing a few loopholes. The state environment ministry is likely to exempt bags used to pack garments, take-away food containers, plastic glasses, bowls, etc. from the ban.

According to senior environment officials, the heads of various plastic manufacturing firms have held a series of meetings with the environment ministry. "We have assured them that thick plastics, that can be recycled or disposed of easily, will be exempt from the revised notifications. We do not want people to lose their employment," the government officials, who were the part of the meetings, said on the condition of anonymity.

He said that they have requested the cloth merchant associations to use thick plastic – like the one used to package milk – to pack garments. "Take-away containers should be reused – we don't want to throw plastic on the road. We are not exempting polythene carry bags," said another official.

Minister for Environment Ramdas Kadam confirmed that plastic manufactures have been asked to increase the thickness of the plastic used to package food and garments. He said that they have also asked the manufacturers to give an affidavit that no plastic will be thrown on the road. "They will take the responsibility of collecting and recycling of these bags. If they fail to do so, we will penalize them heavily. We are ready to bend the ban for them, but they also have to co-operate to," Kadam said.

Kadam said that he is meeting all concerned civic bodies to ensure strict implementation of the ban. "Plastic bottle manufacturers," he said, "have agreed to install 200 recycling machines across the Mumbai. These will be installed at schools, colleges, railway stations, market and malls so that people can reach them easily."

However, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said that not a single decision made by the BJP government has been implemented in letter and spirit. "What does it mean that some items have been exempted from the ban? It shows that decisions have been compromised. But for what? The minister and his party leaders have to explain it. It will be another major fiasco of this government," Malik said.