Madras HC allows use of plastic for primary packaging of food items

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to keep in abeyance its 2020 order, which had deferred the exemption on the use of plastic for primary packaging of food products, until The government does not amend the order banning single-use plastic products. , A bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and PT Asha passed the order on Wednesday when a petition challenging the removal of the exemption came up for hearing. The primary packaging material made of plastic is used for packing food items like biscuits, sweets and namkeen. Counsel for the Department of Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSME), Government of Tamil Nadu, submitted that the ban on use of primary packing material made of plastic for packing food items could not be fully implemented due to certain practical difficulties. Subsequently, the bench ordered the government to stay the 2020 GO removing the exemption on primary packaging materials until the government makes necessary amendments to the 2018 GO banning single-use plastic products that came into force on January 1, 2019. Should be postponed. As per the 2020 GO, the exemption given to plastic bags which are an integral part of packaging or in which the goods are sealed before use in manufacturing/processing units, removed following the recommendation of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). I went. In which it was said that such relaxation hinders the state in achieving its goal of “Plastic Pollution Free Tamil Nadu”. According to senior lawyer Narmada Sampat, representing plastic manufacturers, the TNPCB had refused to renew licenses and give consent for new industrial units manufacturing primary packaging materials after the exemption was removed. “The latest order of the court will help these units to renew their licenses and the new units will be able to obtain consent to produce primary packaging material for food items,” he said. Meanwhile, the TNPCB submitted that an expert committee was constituted by the state government under the chairmanship of the Chairman of the TNPCB and the committee recommended the sale of non-woven plastic carry bags with certain conditions by the manufacturers to eliminate single-use plastics. Use was recommended. Bag. TNPCB member secretary R Kannan said this in an additional report filed before the bench through Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Raveendran. Commissioner of Industries and Commerce, Member Secretary of TNPCB, Regional Director of CPCB, Director of Central Institute for Petrochemical Engineering Technology, Professor Dr Ligi Philip of IIT-M and Director of SDMRI, Thoothukudi Dr Patterson are its members. Expert Committee. “The committee, which met on December 22, recommended the use of non-woven plastic carry bags above 60 GSM with certain conditions under the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2021,” the report said.