NEW DELHI: To phase out single-use plastic by June 30, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has issued an advisory to states and Union Territories to take up a range of activities with public participation. The activities suggested are large-scale cleaning and plogging drives, with special emphasis on plastic waste collection, and plantation drives with the participation of students, self-help groups, NGOs, National Service Scheme, National Cadet Corp, resident welfare associations, market associations, and corporates.
The ministry has also suggested setting up special teams for enforcement and imposing heavy penalties on defaulters. A statement issued by the ministry said plastic waste management, including the elimination of single-use plastic, is a crucial area of focus under its Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0. While 2,591 of the total 4,704 urban local bodies (ULBs) have already reported notification on the single-use plastic ban, as per the directions of the Central Pollution Control Board and the Environment Ministry, MoHUA has asked states and UTs to ensure that the remaining 2,100-plus ULBs notify the same by June 30. “ULBs will need to identify SUP ‘hotspots’ and eliminate them, while parallelly leveraging the support of State Pollution Control Boards and forming special enforcement squads, conducting surprise inspections and imposing heavy fines and penalties on defaulters, for enforcing SUP bans,” said the ministry.
The ministry has also advised the state governments to enter into agreements with industrial units to ensure that a part of the plastic waste generated is used either as an alternative fuel in cement plants or for road construction purposes for which, the ministry said, ULBs or their Public Works Departments will need to come out with detailed guidelines.