Itanagar: With the ban on certain single-use plastic (SUP) items kicking in across the country, Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) mayor Tame Phassang on Friday cautioned that the “trading licenses of shops not following the order would be cancelled”.
“The ban on SUP items is a significant step to reduce the menace of plastic pollution. The Centre has issued guidelines to states asking them to ban the use of SUP items from July 01 which has to be followed in letter and spirit, Phassang said.
The identified SUP items include earbuds, plastic sticks for balloons, flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene (thermocol), plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, straws, trays, wrapping or packaging films around sweets boxes, invitation cards, cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners of less than 100 microns, and stirrers.
SUP items are normally used only once before they are thrown away and are traditionally hard to recycle.
Also read: Arunachal cabinet cancels all out-of-turn appointments
Phassang said that SUP items cannot be reduced in a single day, but one has to start now to minimize its use.
I request the citizens and the business community to replace plastic with jute bags, etc. We will start imposing fines on defaulters from next and the business owners may even lose their trading licenses if they are found to be defying the order, the mayor said.
According to the CPCB, India generates around 2.4 lakh tonnes of SUP per annum. The per capita SUP production is 0.18 kg per year. (With inputs from PTI)
