Nearly 6 tonnes of banned plastics seized from districts

After the plastic ban came into force, the officials have been inspecting the outlets across the districts. On Thursday and Friday, the officials led by Thanjavur Commissioner P Kalimuthu went to all the shops and the team had collected the banned plastic.

After seizing the plastic, the Commissioner said that the plastic bags should be replaced immediately. Those who have the stocks of plastic bags should be produced before the Corporation office. 

The Commissioner deputed two special squads to monitor the banned plastic movement.

Similarly in Pudukkottai, the district Collector S Ganesh had formed as many as 60 monitoring committee and the teams till Friday recovered around three tonne banned plastic items. He also urged the people to contact the officials, including District Pollution Control Board Engineer, who would visit the spot and seize the plastic. Pudukkottai Collector also ordered the officials to create awareness among people on the ban through folk arts.

In Vellore, a total of 3.50 tonnes of banned plastic were seized, while nearly 300 traders who retained it were fined a total of Rs 25,000.

Even cloth bags which were substituted for one time use plastic bags came under scrutiny as the 13 food security officials in charge of Vellore district revealed that such bags contained a plastic coating. 

However, hotels saw a slump in parcel meal sales over the last three days. The slump was as much as 40 per cent which started reviving on Friday. According to M Venkaddasubbu, president TN Hotels Association, “Sales reduction was now around 10 per cent as customers are slowly veering around to the habit of bringing carriers for takeaways.”