Mumbai: Now, you can give your plastic to raddiwalas to get it recycled

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With just a month left for the retailers to create a mechanism that ensures recycling of plastic, in turn ensuring that they can continue using plastic for packaging purposes, the Federation of Retailers and Traders Welfare Association have written to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, mentioning their buy-back plan. As a part of this, even raddiwalas will be an option for citizens to deposit their plastic along with the retail and general stores.

Further, the association said that all the manufactured plastic will have the names and registered MPCB numbers of manufacturers, and it will be their responsibility to ensure that plastic is recycled.

As the buy-back scheme has been allowed for PET bottles and for milk pouches, the retailers have proposed that even the storage utility items used by kirana stores should be allowed as well. The letter also mentioned that under the buy-back scheme, R15 will be given to the citizens in exchange of one kg of plastic. The retailers will be displaying boards to educate the citizens about this incentive and have it written on the packets as well.

Viren Shah, President of Federation of Retailers Traders Welfare Association, said, "We will be putting up boards outside the stores to inform everyone, thus ensuring no plastic is thrown on the streets.

But the only clause will be, if a particular brand's plastic packet is sold at various general stores and malls, then in such cases, any store selling that brand will have to accept the plastic along with even loose plastic." The state government's ban on plastic items came into effect from last Saturday with fines ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 for repeat offenders.

Items that will be fined and exempted

• You are likely to be fined for food products packed in plastic
• If that same product is kept in a plastic carry bag, then you will be held responsible
• Tiffin boxes, cloth clips, combs, buckets and other materials of recyclable plastic will not be fined
• Plastic used for medical purposes will be allowed
• PET bottles are allowed under the buy-back scheme
• Milk pouches too have a buy-back scheme

Also Read: Mumbai: This Viral Photo With Model Aishwarya Sharma Is Making Plastic Ban Cool!

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