New Plastic Waste Management rules - Fusion - WeRIndia

From now onwards, organisers of political parties, weddings and any such gathering should make sure that there is no plastic waste after the event at the places where such meetings are held. Government notified new plastic waste management rules yesterday. Any violation of these rules will attract penalties.

The new rules notified by the Ministry of Environment focuses on all types of waste materials like solid waste, biomedical waste, e-waste, wastage from construction and destruction, and harmful wastes in the country and their refurbishment. As per the new rules, the minimum thickness of a plastic carry bag should be 50 micron as opposed to the 40 micron standard earlier. All plastic bags that are under the prescribed limit are banned from now on.

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that each day 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste is being produced. Only 9,000 tonnes are collected and the remaining 6,000 tonnes remain uncollected. Around 2 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated in a year. Hence government sees a way to deal with these plastic wastes and issued new rules. The Minister added that the new rules were notified after considering consultations and deliberations which took ten months to bring them into force.

Earlier these rules were excluded in villages and only applicable to towns and cities. But, the new rules are not just applicable in towns and cities but also in rural areas and gram panchayats. Plastic bags are now provided to customers for a charge by specific shops and street vendors that are authorized by the government.

As per the new rules, the plastic waste shall not be littered after holding an event, rather they are to be segregated and handed over to the authorised agency for which they have to pay a prescribed fee. And violations of these rules will attract fine. The new rules also focused on the manufacturing and use of non- recyclable multi-layered plastic, but it will be phased out in two years of time.

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