New Delhi –After Prime Minister, Narendra Modi urged people to make India plastic-free, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in an open letter appealed corporates and manufactures to amend their respective production lines to discontinue the use of single-use plastics before 2 Oct.
In this regrard, Railway Ministry imposed a strict ban on single-use plastic material in all the railway units across the nation in effect from 2 Oct which marks the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The ministry has urged the railway vendors and staff to avoid the use of plastic bags, and also keep in mind the three R principles of “reuse, reduce and refuse” while using plastic containers.
The Traders body has also called a national conference of trade leaders of all states on 29 Aug in New Delhi to delineate on the issue and chalk out a strategy.
The step was taken as a preventive measure to protect traders from any punitive action that authorities may take after 2 Oct, CAIT said.
The body has warned that if companies fail to comply with the changes, traders across the country including distributors, wholesalers, retailers and others will be forced to boycott such single-use plastic products pan India.
Furthermore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on Independence Day, requested the citizens to replace plastic bags with jute and paper bags.
He also advised the authorities across the stretch of the nation to make suitable arrangements for collecting plastic as the first strong step to initiate the noble thought.
India’s annual plastic consumption is expected to cross 2 crore tonnes in 2020. India consumes an estimated 1.65 crore tonnes of plastic annually, as per a report.
In all, 80 percent of total plastic produced in India is discarded. It mostly ends up choking landfills, drains and rivers and flows into the sea where it is ingested by marine animals. It leaches into soil and water, contaminating the natural environment with poisonous dioxins.
In this regard, India CSR, the largest news network on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability in India is organising Plastic Waste Dialogue on August 27, 2019 in New Delhi in association with Gonative and United Way India Plog Run, which involves some of the most reputable and competent national and world-renowned speakers from industries, CSR, non-profit organizations, international agencies, academia, and research organisations.
PM Narendra Modi also appealed to the corporate sector to come out with ways and means for appropriate disposal of all accumulated plastic which can be recycled and can be transformed into fuel.
This way, the task of ensuring safe disposal of plastic waste can be accomplished before Diwali, PM added.
