The Mysuru City Corportion (MCC) has taken measures for strict enforcement of ban on single use plastic (SUP) as notified in the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 by the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change.
The Centre notified that the ban would come into effect from July 1, 2022 and the MCC was cracking down on the SUP to comply with the rules.
In connection with the SUP and to clear the confusion over it, the traders and merchants were subjected to a 3-hour orientation of the rules on Wednesday.
MCC Commissioner Lakshmikanth Reddy and Additional Commissioner M.J. Roopa told media persons on Wednesday said that the drive is already on since a week and so far the MCC has imposed and collected ₹12 lakh by way of fine besides seizing 1,250 kg of banned plastic.
Mr. Reddy said that the objective of the MCC drive was not to penalise and prosecute the traders but to ensure a switch to more environmental-friendly and green alternatives for public good.
There was no source or manufacturing centre of plastic within the MCC limits and hence the focus was only on wholesale dealers and traders who procure them in bulk, he added.
The seized plastic was being shredded and was being used in civil works in a specified proportion. Vijaykumar, environment consultant to Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, said that a notification has been issued to blend plastic waste to the tune of 8 per cent in bitumen used for road works. But the Government of India had also taken similar steps and made it mandatory to the use of plastic waste during the manufacture of bitumen itself as the contractors could not be relied on ensuring such a blend, he added.
Electronic Waste
The MCC is also conducting a drive to collect e-waste generated in the city from August 8 to August 15. It has identified specific spots where the public can deposit or dump the e-waste such as batteries, chargers, tube lights, CFLs, adapters, mobile phones, bulbs etc.
At present such wastes are being dumped along with wet or dry waste generated at homes to avoid which the drive is being conducted. The MCC has established e-waste collection centres at each of its 9 zonal offices in addition to a few public places. The e-waste collected will be segregated and sold to authorised recyclers.
The e-waste collection centres are at the following places: MCC Zonal office 1 near Akkanabalaga School; dry waste collection centres near Jayanagar burial ground, near Aranya Bhavan, near Naidu Stores and near zero waste management centre at J.P.Nagar in Zone 2; dry waste collection centre near Gadadhar Circle at Ramakrishna Nagar in Zone 3; Zone 4 office near AIR at Yadavgiri, near Vijayanagar water tank and at dry waste collection centre at Gokulam; Zone 5 office and KG Koppal dry waste collection centre; Zonal office 6 near old RMC yard and at Town Hall; Zonal Office 7 near FTS Circle and dry waste collection centre near Prajwal Hospital; zonal office 8 at Udaygiri and at zero waste management centre at Kesare; and at Zonal Office 9 at Gayatripuram and dry waste collection centres at Vihar Marga in Siddarthanagar and Gayatripuram.
