BMC looks to educate people about alternative solutions

With less than a week to the plastic ban deadline imposed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the civic body will be organising an exhibition from June 22 – 24 at National Sports Club of India (NSCI) in Worli to help citizens with the alternatives to plastic and its recycling options.

The exhibition stalls will have categories which would provide solutions to plastic alternatives, plastic recyclers, bottle crushers, and companies with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Commissioner (A ward), said, “So far we have booked 90 stalls of vendors, self-help groups and corporates who will focus on all sorts of alternatives for plastic which are applicable for daily use. Also, celebrity couple Ajay Devgn and Kajol will be the chief guests on the inaugural day.”

The state government had issued a notification on March 23 imposing a ban on manufacture, use, sale, distribution, and storage of all plastic materials such as one-timeuse bags, spoons, plates, and also thermocol items. A grace period of three months has been given to the manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to dispose of the existing stock of the banned items.

The BMC has been appealing to the citizens to dispose of all the single-use plastic items before June 23. Thereon, the civic body would impose a heavy fine of up to Rs. 10,000 if anyone is seen carrying or using items which are included in the ban. It has also assigned as many as 200 officials to take action against offenders.

Meanwhile, the BMC has set up a toll-free helpline (1800-222-357) for citizens so that they can collect the banned plastic and hand it over to garbage collectors.