Nagpur: The Plastic Bag Manufacturers Association of India (PBMAI) has urged the state government to provide them a seven-year moratorium period for exiting the industry. According to the association, the state’s ban on plastic will make nearly 3 lakh people jobless.
With an agenda of formulating a financial model to incentivise collection of plastic for recycling, the state government had organized an industry consultation session at Mantralaya in Mumbai on Thursday. Convened by the state additional chief secretary (environment), the sessions were moderated by representatives from state environment department, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), Chief Minister’s Office and other experts.
Participants informed that the delegations were divided into different working groups of representatives of PET bottles, industrial packaging, food processing, polythene bags and others.
During the meeting, members of the Maharashtra plastic manufacturers association urged the state government to treat food grains and all food items including fruits and vegetables at par with milk and extend the repository scheme of Rs50 paise per bag on them.
The clothing manufacturers association of India pointed out that in Mumbai, over 6,80,000 ready-made garment pieces for exports are stuck due to non-availability of transparent plastic bags for packing.
PBMAI also sought waiver on packaging material till “alternatives are identified and made available”. Said general secretary of the association Neemit Punamiya, “The Rs15,000-crore plastic bag manufacturing industry has nearly 2,500 manufacturers who have made an investment ranging from Rs10 lakh to Rs50 crore each.”
A day back, the state government had issued a notification exempting small PET bottles from the plastic ban. The government also extended the deadline for disposing banned items to three months. However, as reported by TOI earlier, the onus of setting-up a recycling mechanism lies on the makers of packaged drinking water.
Their representatives, who attended the session, said that the government has agreed to form a task-force to come up with a model for recycling plastic bottles. “The biggest challenge is to collect the plastic water bottles. The task force will work on a mechanism to involve all stakeholders in the process and will submit a report to the government. Collecting and recycling plastic can only happen if it is a collaborative effort involving manufacturers, consumers, retailers and government,” said a representative.
According to the manufacturers, the state has sufficient recycling plants for plastic. “There is no need for manufacturers to set-up individual plants. The existing plants often fall short of plastic,” they said.
