Bottling plants told to set up plastic recycling units – Bottling plants plastic recycling units - Arhive
Bottling plants told to set up plastic recycling units
TNN
MUMBAI: The state government, which is working on the draft of its plastic ban rule, has gone ahead and asked the packaged water industry and bottle makers to set up recycling plants and introduce buyback schemes to encourage customers to return empty bottles. Officials said that no packaged water unit had set up a recycling plant though the norms under the plastic waste management rules said it should be done.
“We have communicated this to the manufacturers and will be enforcing the laws in totality,” an official said. “If they do not set up the recycling facility they can even be closed down.”
The official said that in the 1980s milk was distributed in glass bottles, which when returned after use would bring the consumer a rebate in the next purchase, and that such a system should be implemented for mineral water bottles too. Another official said incentives would also check littering. “A large quantity of bottles do not get recycled and one of the reasons is that consumers have no reason to take them back to the retailer,” the official said.
Manufacturers said the government should rather look at the issue of littering as, according to them, nearly 95% of the plastic bottles were recycled anyway.
The government proposes to ban plastic carry bags and mineral water bottles in starred hotels, government offices, private offices and educational institutes from Gudi Padwa in March.
“At least 30% of the mineral water bottle consumption is in the starred hotels,” a government official said. “If we can reduce that it will be a sizeable impact.”
In the second phase, the government is likely to extend the ban to one-time-use cups, plates, spoons, cling films, secondary packing plastic, sachets, buntings and flex material.Four teams that were dispatched to other states like Sikkim and Karnataka to study the plastic carrybag ban implemented there is back and will submittheir report along with alternatives to the government this week.
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