Indian trade associations oppose ban on plastics in Maharashtra state

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Indian plastic associations said they strongly oppose the recently implemented ban on plastics in Maharashtra, calling the move unjust which will result in mass unemployment.

The final notification issued by the Maharashtra government on 23 March immediately bans the “manufacture, usage, transport, distribution, wholesale & retail sale and storage, import of the plastic bags with handle and without handle, and the disposable products manufactured from plastic & thermocol (polystyrene)”.

The Maharashtra government has given traders and producers a month to dispose of the banned items in their possession.

In response, The All India Plastics Manufacturers’ Association (AIPMA) in a statement on 28 March said that the ban “has drastically affected the Plastic Industry and its impacts can be seen across the state”.

The move has also resulted in unemployment on a large scale and “devour the plastic industry and will affect the state’s economy as well”, AIPMA said.

“The All India Plastics Manufacturers’ Association will soon be taking a legal stand against this unjust notification,” it added.

Separately, the Maharashtra Plastic Manufacturers’ Association on 29 March said that the state’s plastic packaging industries “has been rendered defunct” with the imposition of the ban.

The MPMA said that the text of the notification on 23 March has created a lot of ambiguity and confusion “because there are contradictory statements”.

“This notification seeks to permit large user industries by permitting them to use plastic as an integral packaging material, however, small businesses… involved in food processed [sic] industries … have been refrained from using plastic for their packaging needs!,” the association added.