A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has upheld the clause in the model form of affidavit to be executed by shop owners of the shopping complex under the Ettumanur municipality requiring them to establish separate bins for handling organic waste, inorganic waste and hazardous waste on their premises. The Bench, recently disposing of an appeal filed by the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samith, Ettumanur unit, and other shop owners, observed that the clause prima facie appears to be in consensus with the statutory rules. The court, however, clarified that they need not allow the general public to use these bins .The owners should provide the facility only to their bona fide customers The government pleader submitted that the clause referred to use of waste bins by customers coming to the business establishments and not for members of the general public. The Plastic Waste Management Rules and the Solid Waste Management Rules require the maintenance of three separate waste bins for collecting organic waste, inorganic waste and hazardous waste. The appeal was filed against a single judge’s order declining to interfere with the clause.
