The Puducherry government today decided to ban manufacture and use of plastic packaging materials of less than 51 microns as these were found to be injurious to health and a source of menace during monsoon in the Union Territory.
Announcing this, Welfare and Environment Minister M Kandasamy told reporters at the end of a joint meeting with officials of departments concerned with solid waste management that the ban would come into force in the next six months.
He said manufacturers and shop owners should be given time in keeping with the directives of the Centre in this regard.
If any shop owner was found to be using the materials after the ban comes into force the government would impose spot fine and prosecute the violators, he said.
The government also advised hotel and restaurant owners to abstain from packing 'ready to eat' food items in 'butter paper' or such plastic transparent sheets. The government also directed shop owners not to use newspapers for supplying such food items.
Alternatively the shop owners have been asked to use plantain leaf or any such natural products for such packaging, officials said.
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