Single-use plastic ban from July 1: State ups ante to implement prohibition

kolkata: The state government will further strengthen its awareness campaign across the state to strictly implement the ban on single-use plastic below the thickness of 75 micron which is to be made effective from July 1.

"We are very serious about implementation of the single-use plastic ban. But it will take at least two months to completely curb the use of plastic. Initially, our emphasis will be on awareness campaigns and gradually we will move towards imposing the penalty," state Municipal Affairs minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said on Thursday.

A senior official of the state Municipal Affairs department said that an awareness campaign started at the urban local bodies' level right from June 5, the occasion of World Environment Day. "Meetings are being held with the vendor association, miking is being done in different localities, the NGOs and the local clubs have also been asked to carry out awareness campaigns in the various social programmes they undertake from time to time," the official added. The urban local bodies are free to come up with by-laws as per their choice for implementation of the ban.

It may be mentioned that the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will start slapping Rs 500 fine on shops that sell goods in banned plastic bags of thickness less than 75 microns. Customers accepting such bags will also have to cough up Rs 50.

"Our awareness drive is already showing good results and we are hopeful that we will not have to go for strict penal measures," BMC Mayor Krishna Chakraborty said.

The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) has also laid maximum emphasis on building awareness and has placed electronic billboards highlighting the harmful sides of single-use plastic.

A network of schools to ensure that students persuade their parents and neighbours to discard the use of thinner plastic bags has also been formed.

Haldia Petrochemicals and Dhunsheri petrochemicals, two major suppliers of raw materials in the form of plastic granules, have already been requested not to supply such raw materials to the units if they violate the rules.

The WBPCB has asked the 191 odd plastic industry in the state and 126 units associated with plastic recycling to stop producing single-use plastic (SUP) bags or anything below the thickness of 75-micron. Monitoring has already started in full swing.

"If people lodge complaints through our Paribesh app regarding the manufacturing of plastic below 75 microns and we find it to be true then we will be rewarding him/her keeping his/her identity secret,"Rajesh Kumar, Member Secretary of WBPCB said.