New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS): In a nationwide campaign for elimination of Single Use Plastic (SUP) products, nearly 46 tonnes of SUP items have been seized, an official said, adding a fine of Rs 41 lakh was also imposed on the defaulters by the authorities.
The Ministry of Environment had issued notification on August this year, banning production, sale, stocking and distribution, import and usage of identified SUP items including cutlery items, thin packaging films, candy and ice-cream sticks.
Augmenting its efforts, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) started a special drive from October 17, and more than 50 teams have been deployed for conducting inspections for restricting usage of SUP items by the flower sellers, street vendors, sabzi (vegetable) mandis, fish market, whole sale markets, etc.
Officials said that a total of 20,036 inspections including 6,448 by CPCB teams have been carried out during October 17-19.
Over 4,000 violations were observed and 2,900 challans issued to the defaulters.
An attempt has been made to break the supply chain of SUP items in the market through back-tracking. Retailers, wholesalers and factories engaged in manufacturing SUP items have been traced and a huge cache of the banned items seized during the inspections.
Checks are also being carried out at interstate borders to prevent interstate transportation of banned SUP items.
CPCB plans to further intensify the inspection in the coming days for elimination of SUP from all sections of the economy.