Odisha to pay people returning OMFED packets, plastic bottles

The Odisha government today said it wouuld reward people who returned OMFED plastic containers and empty packets after use from Octiober this year.

The government would issue a public notice by the end of August in this regard, it said.

The government has been following a directive issued by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to ban use of plastic and polythene containers in the state from October 2.

"People will be paid on returning the OMFED (Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers Federationn) packets and plastic bottles," Forest & Environment Additional Chief Secretary S C Mohapatra told reporters after Chief Secretary A P Padhi discussed the matter at a high-level meeting here today.

The meeting also discussed the rules to be framed for plastic ban in Odisha. The plastic packets and bottles will be collected through agents, it said.

The state government will give 15 days time to the people for their opinion in this regard while a law to this effect would be enacted by September 15, Mohapatra said.

He said the chief secretary has directed the department concerned to implement the ban order within two weeks after the enactment of the law.

Mohapatra said that as plastic has posed a serious threat to the environment, the use of plastic bag and polythene will be banned in Puri and all municipal corporations in the first phase and it will come into force in the remaining civic bodies over the next two years.

Urban and Housing Development as well as Panchayati Raj departments have been directed to ensure strict implementation of the ban in the urban and rural areas respectively, Mohapatra said.