Despite the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change amending the Plastic Waste Management Rules and imposing a ban on manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of single-use plastic items from July 1, 2022, the banned plastic is used widely across the city.
Many of the retail vegetable vendors at Anna Market on Mettupalayam Road continue to use the banned single-use plastic bags. A vendor said, “People who come to buy vegetables do not bring bags, even though we have told them that we cannot provide bags. If we tell them that we do not have bags, they leave without buying vegetables. This affects our business, and we are forced to use plastic bags again.”
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