HC upholds ban on single-use plastic products

The Madras High Court on Thursday upheld a Tamil Nadu government order banning use of throwaway plastic but lamented its poor implementation, saying plastic products were still freely available.

Dismissing a batch of PILs from Chennai Non-Wovens Private Limited and 29 others, a bench of justices R Subbiah and Krishnan Ramasamy ordered the state government to stop supplying 'Aavin' brand milk in plastic packets and use bottles or find any other means.

The PILs had sought to quash the June 25, 2018 government order of the state Environment and Forest Department and a consequential letter of December 8, 2018 in so far as it banned non-woven polypropylene carry bags.

The PILs had also sought a direction to the government to not interfere with the petitioners' manufacturing, storing, supplying, trading of the products.

The ban on single-use plastic in the state came into force on January 1 this year.

The bench in its 90-page order observed that even though the government had banned single-use plastic products to make the environment plastic-free, "we feel that the ban is neither effective nor complete."