New Delhi, Oct 20, 2022, By Special Correspondent

New Delhi, Oct 20: A country-wide campaign has been launched for elimination of Single Use Plastic in line with the notification issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in August.

The ministry has banned production, sale, stocking & distribution, import and usage of identified Single Use Plastic (SUP) items including cutlery items, thin packaging films, candy & ice-cream sticks w.e.f. July 01, 2022.

In order to ensure its implementation, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had earlier issued comprehensive Directions to State Pollution Control Board (SPCBs), Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) and other stakeholders.

Directions were issued to manufacturers to stop raw material supply to the SUP producers and E-commerce companies to stop sale & usage of SUP items on their platform.

Several enabling measures such as training of MSMEs for switching over to alternatives to plastics have also been taken up by CPCB during this period.

Digital interventions including development of SUP Compliance Monitoring Portal & SUP Public Grievance App were taken up to facilitate effective monitoring of activities related to enforcement of ban. CPCB along with SPCBs/PCCs also conducted inspections of major commercial establishments during July-August 2022.

Further augmenting its efforts, CPCB started a special drive from October 17, and more than 50 teams have been deployed for conducting inspections for restricting usage of SUP items by the flower sellers, street vendors, sabzi mandis, fish market, wholesale markets, etc.

State Urban Development Department officials participated during inspections. SPCBs/PCCs have also been asked to conduct similar drives.

A total of 20,036 inspections including 6,448 inspections by CPCB teams have already been carried out, an official release said.

Over 4,000 violations were observed and 2,900 challans have been issued to the defaulters. Approximately 46 tonnes of SUP items have been seized and a fine of Rs. 41 lakhs imposed by the concerned Authorities.

An attempt has been made to break the supply chain of SUP items in the market through backtracking. Retailers, wholesalers and factories engaged in manufacturing SUP items have been traced and a huge cache of the banned items seized during the inspections. Checks are also being carried out at interstate borders to prevent interstate transportation of banned SUP items.

CPCB plans to further intensify the inspection in the coming days for elimination of SUP from all sections of the economy.