Imposing a blanket ban on the use of plastic is not only impractical but also undesirable, Principal Secretary (Municipal Administration and Urban Development) Arvind Kumar said here on Friday.
In a meeting with representatives of various retail chains and food outlets in the west zone areas of the city, he said the real challenge was to improve the plastic waste management system.
He opined customers could switch to cloth bags only if the price was reasonable. The meeting was attended by GHMC west zone officials led by Zonal Commissioner D. Harichandana.
He asked plastic waste generators to own up the cause as a collective responsibility and help the government’s efforts to reduce plastic use in society. “Big players in the retail sector should work out modalities to bring the cost of cloth bags to a reasonable level from the customers’ point of view,” Mr. Arvind Kumar said.
The government, on its part, would encourage SHGs and MSMEs to take up production of cloth bags meet the demand. He asked Ms. Harichandana to explore the possibility of a tie-up between waste generators and manufacturers of compost units. He also wanted field level officers to be made aware of plastic waste management rules.
Representatives of retail chains and food outlets assured government of their cooperation in making Hyderabad a ‘less plastic city’. They, however, requested the government to frame guidelines which could be followed practically and suggested for issuance of a check list to enable the plastic waste generators to implement them.
Further, it was agreed that on-site/source segregation should be done to give thrust on minimising plastic waste.