Kerala bans single use plastic from today

KOCHI: As the New Year resolutions are trending in cyberspace, Kerala is getting ready to say goodbye to single-use plastic from Jan.1 2020.

In a major boost to ecological conservation, state government has banned use of plastic, which has become omnipresent in lives of people from cradle to grave. Government is yet to come up with detailed instructions regarding implementation of the rule.

Despite concerns expressed by the traders, the government has decided togo ahead with the move. Kerala High Court on Tuesday declined to stay the notification. The court, however, ordered that no prosecution action should be taken till January 15 over having the stock of plastic items banned by the government.

Flex materials, water bottles below 300 milliliter and disposable cups will come under the banned materials. However, one can purchase milk and most of the branded edible items in plastic packets.

The government had instructed Beverages Corporation, Kerafed, Milma, and Water Authority among others to take back the plastic bottles and covers. There is little clarity on processing the plastic collected by local bodies via th eh ar it ha karma se na.

There are only 133 shredding units in Kerala to shred plastic waste so that they could be used for road construction. Even all the local bodies have not started collection centres for collecting plastic. Currently, there are 800 collection centres.

The Kudumbashree (a self-help initiative of state government) has introduced cloth bags as substitute for plastic. eco-friendly bags are made using clothes, jute and paper at 3,000 units.

Banned items include plastic bags, plastic sheet, plastic plate, cup, spoon, straw, stirrer, thermocol, styrofoam plate and cup, paper cup, plate, bag, bowl with plastic coating, non-woven bag, plastic flag, and plastic decorations, plastic drinking pouch, non-branded plastic juice packet, drinking water bottles of less than 500 milli litres, rubbish bag, flex and banner. The items on which ban was revoked include, cling film used to cover food, vegetables, prior use of plastic covers to store grains, legumes, sugar, plastic cover for wrapping fish, chicken, branded juice packets, packets on branded products, plastic items for export, plastic items for medical care and compostable plastic.