KSPCB gears up to enforce single-use plastic ban

Following the Central government’s decision to enforce a ban on single-use plastic (SUP) items, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) is chalking out measures to carry out the enforcement effectively.

The Central government had issued a notification about the ban in August 2021 and the KSPCB had in December 2021, prepared a comprehensive action plan under the plastic waste management rules, 2016.

KSPCB's senior environmental officer Syed Khaja told DH that various awareness programmes had been taken up over the last six months.

"We have written and communicated about the ban to all the stakeholders. For this purpose, various committees were constituted and promotional materials were prepared," he said.

He added that district-level task forces have been constituted across the state, according to the action plan.

However, though the action plan stressed measures to assess the generation and infrastructure required for plastic management, KSPCB officials said that they are yet to take measures in this regard.

"We are planning to entrust the responsibility of assessing the market trends and such other factors to the Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute (EMPRI). The assessment is expected to start soon," a senior KSPCB official said.

Khaja added that they have also trained the officials from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and other urban local bodies (ULBs) to enforce the ban.

"It is important that the officials understand the types of plastic items and which of them have been banned. Hence, we held a training session to ensure they are prepared to enforce the ban effectively," he said.

Yet another KSPCB official said that they are hoping that the Central government’s order will help solve challenges in the implementation of the ban.

"Though we were able to crack down on manufacturers of such items, we have seen that they were entering the market through manufacturing units in other states such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. We are hoping that nationwide enforcement of the ban will help address such challenges," the official said.