The office of the Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills District in collaboration with the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB), Shillong on Monday 11 November, 2024 organized a workshop on Elimination of Identified Single Use Plastics (SUP) at the Conference Hall, Office of the Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills District, Khliehriat.
The workshop, organized with the aim of generating awareness to all concerned stakeholders, featured two sessions with the first session being organized for District Heads representing different Government Departments and the second session being organized for Traditional Heads, restaurant owners, local vendors and distributors of East Jaintia Hills District.
The workshop was attended by Additional Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills District, Smt. J. U Kharpuri, Additional Deputy Commissioner & Project Director, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), East Jaintia Hills District, Shri Gautam Warjri, Assistant Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills District, Smti. F. Wann, Environmental Engineer, Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB), Shillong, Shri Y. F Laloo, Assistant Environmental Engineer, Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB), Shillong, Smti. R.R Marak and others.
Additional Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills District, Smti. J. U Kharpuri in her address during the workshop emphasized on the importance of collective effort and community involvement in regards to elimination of Identified Single Use Plastics as the matter is of critical importance in as far as environment conservation efforts are concerned.
During the workshop, resource persons from the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB), Shillong deliberated on different aspects concerning the issue including Types of Plastics, Identified Plastics banned including Petro Based Plastic Carry Bags less than 120 microns, Non-woven Plastic Carry Bags less than 60 GSM, plastic sheets or the like which are not an integral part of multilayered packaging and covers made of plastic sheets used for packaging and wrapping the commodity (including cling film/stretch film) less than 50 microns in thickness except where the thickness of such plastic sheets impairs the functionality of the product, plastic cutlery including plates, cup/glass, straws, stirrers, forks, knives, etc.
Other topics discussed during the one-day workshop include Extended Producer Responsibility, Identification-labelling/marking, Provision of Plastic Waste Management Rules, Responsibility of Local Bodies, etc. (DPRO, Khliehriat)