BMC to go full throttle against hoteliers on usage of plastic materials

Mumbai: After acting against shops and small-scale commercial establishments, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now decided to go against restaurants and hotels that use single-use plastic for their daily business operations.

The Maharashtra government, in 2018, passed an order against the usage of single-use plastics, however, in 2020, following the global Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, the state government relaxed the guidelines. With pandemic woes taking a backseat, the state government had announced that the plastic ban will again be enforced not just in Mumbai, but across the state of Maharashtra starting July 1, 2022.

According to the BMC data, the civic body has generated ₹11.65 lakh in fines between July 1 and August 16. The fine amount has been recovered by confiscating 1,605 KGs of plastic. The civic body imposes a fine between ₹5,000 and ₹25,000 on violators, depending on the amount of plastic confiscated. The BMC officials also maintained that the plastic materials that are being confiscated will be recycled in making civic amenities like Benches and Dustbins in BMC Gardens and public spaces.

The officials have said that these plastic items have been confiscated from commercial shops, markets, and hawkers and not from any hotels and restaurants.

Sanjog Kabre, deputy municipal commissioner (special) said that the BMC will direct the restaurants and hotel associations to use steel cutlery and utensils instead of those made with plastics.

“In the first phase, we have taken action against shops and markets and in the next phase, we will penalise hotels and restaurants for using plastics. As an alternative, we will be urging them to replace plastic items with steel utensils. These are one-time investments and will be benefiting the business owners only in the long run,” Kabre said.

Kabre said that in the coming week, senior BMC officials will be meeting with various hotels and restaurant associations to discuss a roadmap for implementing this drive ahead.

“Just like shops and hawkers, restaurants and hotels also generate plastic waste. They supply packed food in polythene bags and containers that are severely responsible for drainage clogging. During our desilting drive every year, more than 80% of the silt that we remove are plastic items,” said another civic official.

In a bid to protect the environment and mitigate drainage clogging issues plastic items that are less than 50-micron density have been banned by the state government since single-usage plastics are regarded as one of the key factors that cause choking of Storm Water Drains (SWD) of Mumbai, which eventually catapults flooding woes in Mumbai.

Currently, items like carry bags, dish-bowl containers, plastic and thermocol, plastic or PVC banners, and packing film around boxes are banned in Mumbai.