CHENNAI: A day after the Greater Chennai Corporation levied a penalty on IndiGo Airlines for using banned plastic covers for providing face shield, masks and sanitizers, the civic body is all set to resume enforcement of a ban on plastic products.
An official said the drive was stopped due to Covid. From Monday, they will start penalising shopkeepers and residents using single use plastic items, plastic carry bags of all types, plastic packaging items, plastic and thermocol cups, plates, spoons and other items on the list of products that have been banned by the state government.
The plastic ban came to effect on January 1, 2019 and civic body had collected, Rs 1.31 crore after seizing 318 MT of banned plastic items after 4.5 lakh raids/inspections. Until November 16, 2020, the officials were conducting raids.
A recent study from Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group had pointed how plastic bags thrived in the city post Covid. The researchers visited 1,936 retail shops and found the banned single use plastic bag there. 50% of the roadside eateries and bigger restaurants still used plastic containers for packaging. And 63% of the local packaging materials used in Tamil Nadu was non-recyclable material.
Vamsi Kapilavai, senior researcher of the organization, told TOI that with more plastic items to be banned by June 2022 by the central government, the civic body and the state government have to ensure the banned items are first removed from the markets and alternatives replaced them.
23-Aug-21 
{{comment.DateTimeStampDisplay}}
{{comment.Comments}}