Checks for the banned single-use plastic items started in Thoothukudi on Wednesday, with around 1.4 tonnes of plastic products being seized within the Corporation limits.
Inspections were conducted at 780 shops by 14 teams of officials in the city. Besides plastic carry bags and other materials, non-woven bags made of polypropylene and aluminium foil were also seized. However, fines were not slapped on the violators of the ban. A Corporation official said the shopkeepers did not protest, and instead asked for alternatives that could be used. They were told to use cloth bags.
Following the local ban on single-use plastics, which came into force on August 15, 2018 within the Corporation limits, many people had switched to non-woven polypropylene bags and aluminium foil packaging, which are also not allowed.
In Kovilpatti, around one tonne of plastic products were seized on Wednesday. Shops, including bakeries and kadalamittai shops, which protested against the ban and sought more time for shifting from plastic packaging materials, downed their shutters.
A municipal official said widespread awareness campaigns had been carried out over the past several months. The enforcement would continue, he added.
Similar seizures were made at various other places in the district.
Students took a pledge to get rid of single-use plastics at most of the 1,834 schools in the district, after a circular was issued by the Department of School Education in this regard.
Nine teams, comprising 10 members each, were deployed by Tirunelveli Corporation to check for use of plastics. Officials seized plastic items in all the four zones – Tirunelveli, Thachanallur, Melapalayam and Palayamkottai.
Meanwhile, members of Plastic Manufacturers and Traders Association shut 15 shops within the Corporation limits, and around 125 shops across the district. They also staged a demonstration in the city, led by president Veeramuthu, demanding the revocation of the ban.
