Mumbai: Civic body to auction seized plastic to registered recyclers

In the lead-up to the ban, BMC had urged citizens to deposit plastic items in their homes in its collection bins. File Pic

The BMC plans to auction the plastic seized during its raids and checks after implementation of the ban. It said it will soon come out with a circular directing ward officials to carry out auction of the plastic collected and stored in their respective wards, but only for registered Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) recyclers.

Through several collection bins placed in the city for citizens to give away the plastic they had in their homes, the BMC collected about 150 metric tons of it, stored across 37 segregation centres and to be handed over to plastic recyclers for correct disposal. However, ragpickers, while segregating dry and wet waste at the centres, sold a majority of it to several plastic manufacturers, who were collecting it under the extended producers' responsibility for recycling.

Civic sources rued that there was hardly any plastic left at the centres for auctioning, but added that the single-use plastic bags seized over the last 20 days are still in civic body's custody and will be auctioned to the recyclers.

Currently, this procedure (auction) is followed for goods seized from illegal hawkers - if there are no claimants, the goods are auctioned, enabling BMC to garner revenue.

Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner, who is the nodal officer for this job, said, "We have decided that the plastic will be auctioned at the ward level and only to MPCB-registered manufacturers or recyclers, who come forward to take the responsibility of its disposal."

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