Bihar bans production, use of single-use plastic

The state cabinet on Tuesday decided to ban production, import, storage, circulation and usage of single-use plastic, the waste of which was becoming a major issue for disposal

The state cabinet on Tuesday decided to ban production, import, storage, circulation and usage of single-use plastic, the waste of which was becoming a major issue for disposal.

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This was among the six decisions the cabinet at its meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar approved.

Environment and forest minister Niraj Singh Bablu said the ban would come in effect after 180 days of the gazzete notification. “All industrial units and marketing installations would be asked to dispose of their product, mainly of made of thermocol, within the stipulated period and resort to eco-friendly alternatives. A detailed modality to check production and use of thermocol items and other single use plastic and penalty would be worked out notified soon,” said the minster.

Earlier, the state government had banned production, circulation and use of polythene.

However, polythene bags are still in use.

Chief executive officer (CEO) of Centre for Environment and Energy Development Ramapati Kumar, while welcoming the move, said the government should create necessary infrastructure for safe disposal of plastic and launch awareness drive to curb leakage in the policy. “Otherwise, single use plastic would remain in circulation like polythene despite ban,” he said.

The cabinet also gave nod for the health department’s proposal to offer financial incentive to all health workers engaged in Covid management equivalent to their one month’s salary. It also approved the department’s plan to purchase 250 ambulances at the cost of ₹62.50 crore. The panchayati raj department’s long-term maintenance policy for operation of rural water supply system was also okayed.