Expert committee recommends use of non-woven plastic carry bags, TNPCB tells Madras High Court
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has informed the Madras High Court that an expert committee constituted by the Tamil Nadu government has made a recommendation to promote the use of recyclable non-woven plastic carry bags in order to wipe out single-use plastic products.
The submission was made by the member-secretary of TNPCB, R Kannan, in an additional report filed through Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran, before a special division bench hearing plastic-related cases.
The bench consisting of Justices S Vaidyanathan and PT Asha had directed the counsel for the government, in the previous hearing, to inform whether an expert panel was formed as per the orders of the Supreme Court and any recommendations were made by the committee, if it was formed.
The TNPCB informed that the state government issued a GO dated December 18, 2023 to constitute the six-member committee headed by the Chairperson of TNPCB.
It includes the Commissioner of Industries and Commerce, Member-Secretary of TNPCB, Regional Director of the Central Pollution Control Board, Director of the Central Institute for Petrochemical Engineering Technology, Dr Ligy Phillip, professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT-Madras and Dr Patterson, Director of SDMRI, Thoothukudi.
“The expert committee, which met on December 22, recommended the ‘use of non-woven plastic carry bag greater than 60 grams per square meter (GSM) on part with the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2021 with certain conditions,” the report stated.
The court was informed that the conditions included identity of the manufacturer to be printed on the bags; marking and labeling to show the bag was made from non-woven plastic fabric of more than 60 GSM; inspection of the manufacturing units; setting up of separate collection points for the non-woven plastic bags by the civic bodies.
Even though the committee has recommended the use of non-woven plastic bags, the use of cloth bags through the Meendum Manjappai Campaign is being promoted, the TNPCB told the court.
It further informed the court that it has sent a letter to the state government to consider the recommendations and issue necessary amendments to the GO dated June 25, 2018.
Referring to the action taken to wipe out single-use plastics in the vicinity of temples, it told the court the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department has informed that 500 display boards on the ‘ban of single-use plastics’ and 197 boards on the list of eco-alternative products were placed in temple premises; and in 872 temples, alternative products like paper cups and cloth bags are being sold.
Moreover, the Commercial Taxes department has sensitized its roving squads to ‘keep a strict vigil’ over transportation of the banned single-use plastics.