The Maharashtra government has taken a unique decision to reduce the use of single-use-plastic bags in the state. The State Government has issued a refundable surcharge of 50 paise per plastic packet of milk, in order to motivate people to return used milk plastic pouch to retailers for recycling.

As per the new directives, the state government has made it mandatory for retailers to return empty milk pouches to the sellers. For this, the customers will have to pay 50 paise extra refundable surcharge, and on returning the empty pouch to the retailer, the surcharge will be refunded.

Empty Milk Pouches To Be Returned To The Seller

The government came up with this plan of recycling of milk packets after the state banned plastic. Meanwhile, Maharashtra uses one million plastic milk bags per day, which is equivalent to 31 tonnes of plastic per day.

Environment Minister of Maharashtra, Ramdas Kadam, said that this step will help the government to make the  state plastic free, and producers will be encouraged to recycle the plastic milk packets, reported NDTV. The government has allowed the milk producers to start the recycling plant in their premises. Once this work begins, there will hopefully be no more of these empty milk bags littered on the roads.

He further added that the state government will take more steps in a phased manner to create a plastic free society.

The Maharashtra government enforced a plastic ban on June 23, 2018, which includes manufacture, use and sale of single-use plastic materials.

The present garbage collection, handling and disposal system is primitive and inefficient in India, which leads to pollution, and these can only be reduced by reusing and recycling of discarded waste material, mainly packaging material.

Also Read: In A First, Lucknow Uses Its Plastic Waste To Construct Roads