10.6 tonnes of banned items seized in Chennai during first 2 days of plastic ban

The Tamil Nadu government banned single-use plastic from January 1, 2019.

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Two days after the Tamil Nadu government’s ban on single-use plastics came into force, the Chennai Corporation has seized almost 12.50 metric tonnes of the banned item from across the city. The items were seized after the Corporation officials conducted surprise checks in various localities.

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) had requested the public to deposit items made of single-use plastic in their respective ward offices before December 31, 2018. On December 31, 1.88 metric tonnes of the banned items were brought to the ward offices across the city.

As per a press release by the GCC, Teynampet zone collected 580 kgs of banned items followed by Anna Nagar zone, which had 485 kgs of plastic items. The third highest collection was made in the Kodambakkam zone with 186 kgs of banned plastic items.

As the order came into force on January 1, 2019, officers from the GCC raided commercial establishments and seized the banned items stacked there.

On January 1, GCC seized 662 kgs of banned plastic items from Sholinganallur zone and 563 kgs of plastic items from Ambattur zone. 439 kgs of single-use plastic products were seized from Anna Nagar. The day’s tally stood at 2.25 metric tonne of banned plastic products confiscated from across the city.

2,376 kgs of banned plastic was seized from Valasaravakkam, 859 kgs from Kodambakkam and 761 kgs of banned plastic from Anna Nagar were seized on January 2. The total volume of banned plastic items seized on January 2 stood at 8.35 tonnes, as per GCC’s statement.

The government of Tamil Nadu banned the use of plastics on June 5, 2018, on World Environment Day. The ban came on the recommendation made by a Select House Committee, which was given the task of analysing the effect of such ban by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

Speaking on the floor of the Assembly in June, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said, “This committee had recommended the ban of non-biodegradable and single-use plastic and had also recommended the use of natural environmental-friendly products like banana leaves and lotus leaves. It has also recommended restricting the use of plastic for daily-use products like milk, curd, oil and medicines."