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Parliament


Govt taking initiatives to ensure sound management of plastic waste: Javadekar

Govt taking initiatives to ensure sound management of plastic waste: Javadekar

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) With an objective to ensure sound management of plastic waste, the Environment ministry has already started taking initiatives, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said there were already such factories for converting plastic waste to oil, adding that a committee comprising Central Pollution Control Board and Department of Science and Technology, is doing the study in this regard.
He said the government has notified Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 for environmentally sound management of plastic waste and to prevent plastic pollution in the country. The rules prohibit the use of plastic bags with thickness less than 50 microns.
The minister said the rules were there but their enforcement has to be ensured.
Responding to supplementaries during Question Hour, Mr Javadekar said 25-30 tonne of plastic garbage is produced per day and only two third of it is collected and the rest is littered for years, choking drains among other hazards.
He said an expert group has been constituted by Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET) with respect to research and development for compostable or biodegradable technology on plastic.
For proper regulation and sound recycling of plastic, provisions have been made for registration of all plastic recyclers with respective state and Union Territory Pollution Control Board or Committees, he said.
Speaker Om Birla exhorted Parliamentarians to pledge that they will not to use thin plastics and the suggestion was endorsed by Mr Javadekar.
The government has no new scheme or fund allocation for recycling of plastic. However, to utilise the uncollected plastic waste, the local bodies are encouraged to use the plastic waste for road construction, co-processing of plastic waste in cement kilns, conversion of plastic waste into liquid RDF (oil) among others.
UNI RSA SV 1259

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