BMC to conduct awareness campaign on plastic ban

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Mumbai Police have collaborated to enforce the ban on the use of single-use plastic. Fines will be levied on producers, stockists, suppliers, and sellers, ranging from a Rs 5,000 for first-time offenders to a Rs 10,000 fine for second-time offenders and Rs 25,000 and/or imprisonment for three months for repeat offenders.
 
The BMC will begin taking action after conducting an awareness campaign for a week. For the campaign, BMC licence inspectors along with other staff will visit traditional and civic markets, to inform hawkers, vendors, people, and shopkeepers about the types of plastic which will be impacted following the ban.

The BMC also intends to fine the end user as the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board has asked for it to act against consumers. Currently, the fine amounts are too hefty for street vendors and common people, so the BMC plans to reduce the fine amounts thereby allowing it to fine the consumers. In 2024, the BMC visited around 44,448 shops and seized 2,148-kilogrammes of plastic amounting to Rs 41.70-lakh in fines.

Clamp down on single-use plastic in Maharashtra