When will plastic be banned in nurseries in Odisha?

Bhubaneswar: After successful implementation of plastic ban order in Odisha, the State government is likely to take another initiative for imposing a ban on the use of polythene bags in nurseries of the Forest department.

Recently, Centre has asked Odisha government to ban plastic in nurseries as part of the vision to make the Nation 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 wrote, “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 said in the letter.

Already the States like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Nagaland have started taking initiative to research and find out the best alternative to plastic for use in nurseries.

After the circular issued by the Centre, the State government is expected to work on finding some cost-effective alternatives to raise the seedlings and implement it at earliest.

Notably, the State government has also taken a similar step by putting the ban on the use of plastic bags in all its municipal corporations.

The ban was imposed in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Puri from October 2.