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UP to ban single-use plastic items from July 15, CM Yogi Adityanath seeks public support on Twitter
Uttar Pradesh has announced a ban on single-use plastic items such as polythene, plastic cups and glasses as it attempts to enforce the restriction for a third time.
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Uttar Pradesh on Friday announced a ban on plastic cups and polythene use from July 15, in its third such attempt.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to make India free of single-use plastic by 2022, and the majority of India’s 29 states have a full or partial ban.
“We have decided to impose a complete ban on plastic in the state from July 15,” chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Twitter.
“I urge everyone to stop use of plastic cup, glass and polythene after July 15. I seek your support to make the ban a success,” he added.
Details of the proposed ban have yet to be announced, however.
Like in other states, plastic pollution has been a major contributor to pollution of Uttar Pradesh’s rivers, and urban areas are often strewn with plastic bags and bottles. The Centre had also declared the area around the Taj Mahal a plastic-free zone.
Last month a ban on single-use plastics came into force in Maharashtra.
It covers their manufacture, usage, transport, distribution, wholesale and retail sale, storage as well as import.
Some 250 officials, wearing blue uniforms and dubbed Mumbai’s “anti-plastic squad”, have been deployed to carry out inspections of restaurants and shops in Mumbai.
India generates around 5.6 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, according to government figures.
A United Nations report warned that at current levels the planet could be awash with 12 billion tonnes of plastic trash by the middle of the century.
