Plastic ban: Hoteliers in Pune will charge extra for containers, bags

‘Now we are looking for alternatives to plastic to pack the food items and give them in any other type of bag as paper bags cannot carry the weight of the food parcels sometimes’

PUNE It’s a rough road ahead for thousands of hoteliers, restaurateurs and owners of snack centres as the use of plastic and polypropylene bags has been strictly banned starting Friday. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has given instructions to this effect after the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issued orders to all state pollution control boards to cancel the ‘consent to operate’ to all units manufacturing the banned items. Meanwhile, customers will now have to pay more for food ‘takeaways’ as they will be given in containers or bags made out of bamboo and other such materials.

Customers will now have to pay more for food ‘takeaways’ as they will be given in containers or bags made out of bamboo and other such materials. (Ravindra Joshi/HT PHOTO)

Nitin Shinde, MPCB sub-regional officer, Pune II, said, “We have declared that from Friday onwards, the use of any kind of plastic and giving out things in any other form of plastic-made material will be banned in Pune. On Friday, no action was taken from our side but very soon, we will start a checking drive along with Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) teams across the city. Action will be taken as per the guidelines issued by the CPCB about the limitation on microns and related things. For hotel and restaurant owners, it will certainly have an impact as there won’t be any change in the rules prescribed by the central government. We have banned plastic carry bags in the state; we will restart the checking drive soon.”

Prakash Shinde, owner of a restaurant in the Hadapsar area, said, “Daily, we have more than 100 customers taking away parcels from our restaurant. Earlier, we used to give food parcels in plastic foil bags which are banned now. Then the other option for us is to give in container boxes which are highly-priced as per the size and then the entire parcel is given in a plastic bag which is banned now. This will certainly affect our business so we need to charge extra money for the containers now.”

Ganesh Shetty president, Pune Restaurants and Hoteliers Association (PRAHA), said, “We always follow all the rules set by the MPCB or any other governing agency but we request that while doing this, some of our demands, too, are heard. Now we are looking for alternatives to plastic to pack the food items and give them in any other type of bag as paper bags cannot carry the weight of the food parcels sometimes. And during the monsoons, they get wet and are damaged. Our demand is to allow plastic bags above 50 microns which is allowed worldwide.”

Ketaki Mahangade, a customer, said, “Today, when I went to take a food parcel from our nearby restaurant, they first asked whether I had brought any tiffin or container to take the parcel. Then they charged Rs12 extra for the food parcel packed in a container instead of the plastic foil bag they earlier used. They told us that plastic bags are banned from today.”