DoP Bans Single-Use Plastic Products In Pharma Trade
New Delhi, 11 Sept 2019:
In line with the Central government’s effort to ban disposable plastic products that account for large quantity of plastic waste, the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has decided to ban use of single-use plastics in pharmaceutical trade sector.
The official ban will come into effect from the 11th of this month, sources informed.
As part of the move, the secretary of the DoP, Dr P D Vaghela, called a meeting of office-bearers of pharma industry associations, medical devices associations and trade associations on last Friday in his office to find out a practical solution to stop use of plastics in industry and medical shops. Consequently, it has decided to give instructions to all concerned associations and their branches to immediately take measures to stop use of single-use plastic products such as plastic carry bags, cosmetic packagings, bottles, containers and cups.
According to sources, the meeting was called as part of government’s programme on plastic waste management under the initiative, ‘Swachhata Hi Sewa Campaign’. Office-bearers of IDMA, CIPI, OPPI, AIOCD, AICDF, Jan Aushadhi and officials of DoP and NPPA attended the meeting. Association leaders who attended the meeting said officials of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and local bodies will inspect wholesale and retail premises to ensure that the business places are plastic-free.
Kamal Mehrotra, the north zone joint secretary of the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), who attended the meeting, representing the national trade body, said all the members in the meeting felt that use of disposable plastic items was fiercely becoming a ubiquitous environmental menace in the country today and it needed to be stopped at the earliest. The meeting wanted the AIOCD to take the instructions of the government to its branch offices and advise the traders to follow them immediately.
He said online traders use plastic materials for sending medicines by courier and it will have adverse impact on the environment. He told the DoP secretary to restrain such business in order to support the ‘Swachhata Hi Sewa Campaign’ of the prime minister and make the country free from plastic waste. But he said AIOCD is an association of 10 lakh medical shops and it can support the programme of the government in a big way.
As regards disposal of plastic items, Mehrotra said AIOCD will suggest its member-chemists to return all such plastic products along with broken and expired items to the distributors who, in turn, can return the same to the manufacturing companies for effective disposal. Pharmabiz