A Delegation of Federation of Industrial & Commercial Organization (FICO) under the leadership of Sh. Gurmeet Singh Kular President FICO along with Sh. Rajeev Jain General Secretary FICO along with Sh. Sandeep Khosla President Plastic Processing Industrial Association, Amritsar; met Sh. Rahul Tiwari IAS Principal Secretary, Science Technology and Environment, Government of Punjab discussed in detail the issues faced by the Plastic Manufacturers of Punjab and requested him to personally intervene and resolve the issue.
1. Save Plastic Industry of Punjab:
It is to bring to your kind notice that all states of India, other than Punjab, Himachal Pradesh & Tripura; have not banned the manufacturing of plastic carry bags and single-use plastic products as per the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board. The plastic in heavy quantities is coming from other states and being sold in Punjab. but the manufacturers of Punjab have shut down their operations to comply with the guidelines of Govt. of Punjab. it is disheartening to know that more than 650 industries in Punjab have been shut down in the last 4 months. The remaining manufacturers have retained the labor to date, but it is difficult to hold the labor for long without work. It is requested that the government of Punjab should hand hold the industry of Punjab and as per the guidelines of CPCB, the manufacturing of Plastic Carry Bags and SUPs must be started in Punjab.
2. Allow 120 Micron Carry Bags:
Plastic carry bags are the substitute for paper carry bags and we all are well aware that the total forest cover of Punjab is only around 6% of the total area of Punjab. On the grounds of Gazette Notification No. CG-DL-E-12082021-228947, dated 12.08.2021 of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India has allowed Plastic Carry Bags with thicknesses not less than 120 microns, and non-woven plastic carry bags to be made up of 60 Grams per Square Meters. They requested to allow the manufacturing of 120 Micron Carry bags.
3. Single-Use Plastics:
The market of Single-use plastic (tumblers, bowls, plates, mineral water glasses) is worth Rs. 2,25,000 Crores in India, with thousands of manufacturers in the state, most of them are the MSME sector units. Imposing a ban on single-use plastic and making people out of business is not the solution. Before imposing the ban, we should work on an alternative of the same. It is rather requested that the Bio-Degradable Plastic Products as per Indian Standard IS 17899 T : 2022 must be allowed
4. Glasses for Packing Water:
There is a scarcity of clean healthy drinkable water for which thousands of industries have been set up to purify the groundwater and pack it in glasses/ bottles, which are hugely used for travel purposes, functions, gatherings, restaurants, etc. Unfortunately, Today the Glasses for Packing Purified Water are banned. Although bottles and other single-use items for the food sector are allowed. It is requested that glasses for Packed Drinking Water should be allowed and EPR (Extended Producer’s Responsibility) may be imposed.
Amongst Present were S. Gurmeet Singh Kular President FICO, Sh. Rajeev Jain General Secretary FICO, Sh. Sandeep Khosla President Plastic Processing Industrial Association, Amritsar along with Sh. Manmohan Singh Chairman, Sh. Sanjeev Sharma Senior Vice President, Sh. Ankush Gupta Vice President Sh. Kuldeep Singh and Sh. Mohinder Jain General Secretary of Plastic Processing Industrial Association, Amritsar.
