Uttarakhand to ban use of polythene from July 31

The Uttarakhand Government has decided to completely prohibit the use of polythene or plastic from July 31, 2018.

The move is aimed at curbing rampant use of plastic, which is increasingly becoming a huge environmental challenge. The announcement was made by the state on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5, 2018.

Key Highlights

• All the polythene vendors in Uttarakhand have been asked to finish the polythene stock before July 31.

• The state would also be launching a comprehensive public awareness campaign on the environmental damage caused by polythene, one week before the complete ban on polythene.

• According to the state’s Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, environmental conservation is a collective responsibility and so people's cooperation is necessary to make Uttarakhand polythene-free.

More states pledge to become plastic-free

• The governments of Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Maharashtra and Jharkhand on June 5 affirmed their commitment to make their states plastic-free.

• The state governments expressed their resolve to end the plastic use as India played global host to 2018 World Environment Day celebrations with the theme “Beat Plastic Pollution”.

• While Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami said that his government would ban the use of plastic items from January 2019, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio set December 2018 as a deadline to free the state of all plastic waste.

• On the other hand, state governments of Jharkhand and Maharashtra sought a year to rid their states of plastic items. Jharkhand Chief Minister announced that the state would become plastic-free by June 5, 2019 and Maharashtra Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam said the state would be totally free of plastic in the next one year.

• West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also urged the people of the state to curb plastic pollution on the occasion of World Environment Day.

Background

Sikkim became the first state in 1998 to ban disposable plastic bags. In 2016, it banned the use of packaged drinking water in government offices and government events and use of Styrofoam and thermocol disposable plates in the entire state.

The Haryana government too has now decided to ban single-use plastic water bottles in all government offices in the state.

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