MARGAO
Come April 1 and the Margao Municipal Council will enforce a ban on the sale as well as the use of plastic bags below 50 microns size in the commercial capital.
In a notice issued on Monday, MMC Chief Officer
Johnson Fernandes has urged the inhabitants of the town, be it from residential or commercial complexes, to desist
from using plastic bags or using plastic bags below
50 microns.
The CO has warned suppliers that if they still wish to supply the plastic bags they should register with the civic body by paying annual registration fee of Rs 48,000 failing which every offense committed will be penalized with a fine of Rs 5000.
He further warned that the penalty will also be applicable on the households in the
near future.
The CO pointed out that provision 15 of the Plastic Waste Management Rules calls for registration by each and every person who intends to sell/give any plastic bag beyond 50 microns.
“With effect from April 1, 2018, no person will be allowed to sell/pack/handover plastic bags to the customers be it a trader, shopkeeper, street vendor, including fish/meat and chicken vendor or a bread seller or any other business establishment without being duly registered with the civic body on payment of Rs 48,000 as registration fees,” he said.
The CO told The Goan that the registration of the plastic bags dealers or traders does not give any exemption to these class of traders to sell plastic bags below 50 mircons.
“The Plastic Waste Management Rules are clear that business establishments cannot sell plastic bags below 50 microns size and that the households cannot use such plastic bags,” he added.
Replying to a question, he said that MMC has given reasonable time of 25 days for the traders or business establishments to exhaust their existing stock before the civic body starts cracking the whip from April 1.
While soliciting cooperation from the citizens in implementing the rules, the CO reminded that the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2016, provides that no damage is caused to the environment and that plastic waste has been a major cause of concern which needs to be drastically minimized, adding that the Rules provide for taking steps to minimize generation of plastic waste and to ensure segregation of waste at source.
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has brought into force the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2016, to lay thrust on plastic waste minimization, segregation at source, recycling, involving waste pickers, recyclers and waste processes in households or any other source of its generation for sustainability of the waste management system.
