Himachal court defers ban on plastic packed food items

Shimla: Ban of plastics used for storage and sale of processed food items like biscuits, potato chips, candies and others that was to come into force in Himachal Pradesh from today has been deferred by the courts.

“The court directive today came in a petition filed by Indian Biscuit Association,” said Ajay Vaidya, an advocate.

Earlier the court to ban the indiscriminate use of plastics had decreed imposition of a blanket ban on polythene packings of food items barring milk and vegetable oils.

Marhi Rohtang Plastic Garbage
Plastic Garbage at Marhi – Rohtang Pass area

The ban was to come into affect from 1 April but after the government pleaded for more time to implement the ban and it was deferred to 1st July.

Himachal is one of the first states to enacted legislation for banning non bio-degradable plastics that has led to complete ban on use of plastic carry bags in the hill state.

A division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol while hearing a petition about indiscriminate use of plastic had observed, “ We are of the opinion that there should be a ban on only those non-essential items which fall in the category of junk food such as wafers, chips, sweets, noodles, chocolates, ice cream candy, biscuits and ‘namkeen.”

“These items should be brought into Himachal only in biodegradable packaging and even soft drinks should be brought in glass bottles or other biodegradable packaging but not in non-biodegradable packaging”, the bench had said in its order.

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2 Comments

  1. says: shikha

    It is better to manufacture all short-life plastic which is used for packaging of different kinds of eatables by adding d2w oxo-biodegradable additive. D2w oxo-biodegradable plastic which degrade in the environment by a process of oxidation initiated by an additive formulation, and then biodegrade after their molecular weight has reduced to the point where naturally-occurring micro-organisms can access the material. At the end of that process it is no longer a plastic and has become a material which is inherently biodegradable in the same way as a leaf, but if collected during its useful life it can be recycled. After degradation the plastic can no longer be seen, and it cannot block drains or entangle wildlife. During the intermediate phase of degradation in case of oxo-biodegradable plastics fragments are created but the molecular weight of the fragments get smaller and smaller until there is nothing left except naturally-occurring materials such as hydro-peroxides, which are rapidly scavenged by micro-organisms. Using the test methods prescribed by BS 8472, American Standard D6954-04 and EN 13432 it has been shown that oxo-bio is not eco-toxic. India should do what the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and other countries have already done. Government should legislate to require all short-life plastic products (not just shopping bags) to be made from d2w oxo-biodegradable plastic. The oxo-biodegradable additive can be included in normal manufacture by Indian plastics factories without any loss of jobs, and at little or no extra cost. D2w oxo-biodegradable plastic is supplied by a British company called Symphony Environmental.
    For more infromation please contact : Michael Stephen, Chairman, Symphony Environmental Technologies Plc based in UK, email-id : [email protected]

    1. says: Balvinder Singh

      But here in Chandigarh the pollution control board was challan our Oxo biodegradable carry bag product. And deny to giving us any reason.
      What can we do on this?
      Please suggest

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