Himachal Pradesh government will start single use plastic buy back scheme

Tags: Government Schemes

In line with the decision of the Central Government to ban the use of single-use plastic, Himachal Pradesh has launched the “Single-Use Plastic Buy Back Scheme”.

• Under the Single Use Plastic Buy Back Scheme, the Himachal Pradesh government will buy single use plastic items from students of schools and colleges.

• Under this, students will be encouraged to bring single-use plastic items from home and deposit them in schools.

• For this, the government will pay Rs 75 per kg to the students.

• The scheme has been started with the aim of inculcating the habit of environmental protection among the youth.

• Single use plastic ban

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021.

• These rules were notified to prohibit specific single-use plastic items.

• There will be a ban on the manufacture, import, storage, distribution, sale and use of single-use plastics as per the rules from July 1, 2022.

• This ban will not apply to items made of compostable plastic.

• The permissible thickness of plastic bags has been increased from 50 microns to 75 microns with effect from September 30, 2021 and to 120 microns with effect from December 31, 2022.

• Single use plastic

• Single use plastic is also known as disposable plastic.

• They are used only once.

• This plastic is so convenient and cheap that it has replaced other materials in the packaging industry.

• India produces 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, of which 43 per cent is single-use plastic.