After its successful implementation of plastic ban order in the State, the Government is likely to take another initiative for imposing a ban on the use of polythene bags in nurseries of the Forest Department.
Recently, the Centre has asked the Odisha Government to ban plastic in nurseries as part of the vision to make the country single-use plastic-free by 2022.
In a letter to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of all the States dated November 12, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has written, “It has been observed that nurseries under the State Forest Departments use polythene bags of various sizes for raising seedlings of plants for afforestation and other activities. In this context, you are requested to kindly ensure that use of polythene bags in the nurseries in your State is dispensed with and alternatives are explored for raising seedlings.”
“This may be carried out with immediate effect so that all the nurseries of the State Forest Department are made plastic-free by the next planting season,” the Ministry has said in the letter.
Already the States like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Nagaland have started
taking initiative to research and find out the best alternatives to plastic for use in their nurseries.
After the circular issued by the Centre, the Odisha Government is expected to work on finding some cost-effective alternatives to raise the seedlings and implement it at the earliest.
Notably, the State Government has also taken a similar step by imposing a ban on the use of plastic bags in all its Municipal Corporations.
The ban was imposed in the areas of the Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Brahmapur, Rourkela and Sambalpur Municipal Corporations and the Puri Municipality from October 2.