The pouches are expected to be collected by the retailers, who will have to dispose them of scientifically. The pouches are expected to be collected by the retailers, who will have to dispose them of scientifically.

The Maharashtra government’s decision to ban plastic products has put dairies in a fix as most are unsure about the process of recycling of the milk pouches. While the state has asked retailers to collect and recycle the milk pouches, dairies fear this will directly affect their business and can also lead to a rise in the price of milk.

Last week, the state government announced that only 50 micron virgin plastic milk pouches will be permitted for distribution of milk but dairies have been asked to print a 0.50 paise buyback price on the same. The pouches are expected to be collected by the retailers, who will have to dispose them of scientifically. Dairies, retailers and others in the chain will be roped in for recycling with the government, urging the dairies to shift to glass bottle or other eco-friendly methods of milk distribution.

Dairies, on their part, are unclear about the exact implementation of the ban but many have expressed their reservations about it. Vishwas Patil, chairman of the Kolhapur-based cooperative dairy Gokul, said they lacked the technical knowledge about recycling the pouches. “Storing such pouches will not be easy as they would start emitting foul odour soon enough,” he said.

Patil’s dairy supplies around 10 lakh-litre milk per day to Pune, Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. He said the dairy has sought an appointment with the environment minister. “Without a proper infrastructure, it will be difficult to implement the ban,” he added. Given the extra labour and cost of storage this involves, some of the dairies have not ruled out a slight rise in the price of retail milk pouches.

Meanwhile, private dairies are testing the waters. Of the 1 crore-litre milk procured in Maharashtra, around 60 per cent is supplied by private dairies. A majority of their supply, however, is diverted towards making other dairy products than sale of liquid milk. Most of the private diaries are yet to take a stand or discuss the matter at length. Rajiv Mitra, managing director of Phaltan-based Govind dairies, admitted they were still discussing the matter internally to understand the total impact of the ban.

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