Surveys carried out by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) revealed that 335 factories manufacturing plastic products like sheets, plates, straws, containers and other banned products have voluntarily shut their business in 12 days following the Maharashtra Plastic Ban.
While 265 units have voluntarily shut down, 90 others have been issued closure notices. These units are at Mumbai, Pune Nagpur, Aurangabad, Nasik, and Kolhapur. MPCB has given 15 days to the units to stop their business after which the MPCB officials will be revisiting them.
Also Read : Plastic Ban: Hawkers To Be Spared, Shopkeepers Would Be Fine
To reduce further scope of violation, MPCB will prepare a database of all recently opened manufacturing units related to plastic production. It has also started sending out notices to manufacturers to prove that the plastic they use for packaging is recyclable, as a remedial measure. Manufacturers have been asked to follow Extended Producers’ Responsibility (EPR) to ensure collection and recycling of used plastic wrappers and packets. MPCB has also developed an in-house portal where the manufacturing bodies can register, and within a week, licenses will be issued to them for recycling. Recyclers with any issues can write to the MPCB head office.
The state government issued a notification under the Maharashtra Plastic and Thermocol Products (Manufacture, Usage, Sale, Transport, Handling and Storage) Notification, 2018, banning the manufacture, usage, storage, distribution, wholesale, retail sale, import and transportation of a variety of plastic and thermocol goods post March 23, 2018.
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