GHMC will impose fine on 50 micron polybags

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will impose fines on vendors and manufacturers who use plastic bags below 50 microns from October 2. According to officials, plastic bags below 50 microns are not easily recycled.

“There are no purchasers of these bags as they are not easily recycled and they are a threat to environment due to its non-disposability characteristics,“ said N Ravi Kiran additional commissioner of sanitation department, GHMC.Earlier the use of plastic bags with thickness



below 40 microns was banned and the thickness of banned plastic bags was increased to 50 microns in 2016. The civic authorities have requested the people to use jute bags or cloth bags instead of plastic bags.

The GHMC has already conducted inspections at grocery stores and meat stores, markets etc to reduce the usage of plastic bags. In this financial year total 2432 fines have been imposed for using plastic bags below 40 microns and a total of ` 21.51 lakh has been collected.