In sync with the Central government's call against the use of single-use plastic, the Andhra Pradesh will impose ban on plastic items from July 1 (Friday).
Manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of certain single-use plastic items have been banned by the Centre.
The State government will enforce the ban on single-use plastic, apart from conducting awareness programmes from Friday.
Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration Pravin Kumar, in a release on Thursday, said that information, education and communication (IEC) campaigns would be conducted in all local bodies at the ward level by ward volunteers.
Publicity campaigns including distribution of flyers, setting up hoardings, advertisements in cinemas and media promoting the plastic ban, rallies and others will also be organised.
Traders who violate the ban orders may lose their licence, apart from facing the necessary action, said Mr. Pravin Kumar.
Enforcement
The State government has constituted 805 task force teams to enforce the ban and about 158 metric tonnes of plastic bags measuring less than 75 microns have been seized. A fine of ₹154 lakh has also been collected from the violators, he said.
The list of banned items include ear buds, balloons, flags, candies, ice creams and other products that come with plastic sticks, thermocol used for decoration purposes, plastic cutlery, food wraps, invitation cards, cigarette packets and plastic or PVC banners measuring less than 100 microns.
State-level control rooms have to be set up and special enforcement teams have to be formed besides setting up border check points to stop inter-State movement of the banned plastic items.
In many urban local bodies, single-use plastics have already been banned before the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, he added.
