The Bombay High Court on Friday issued notices to the State Government, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), Control Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in a plea seeking a ban on plastic flowers with less than 100 microns.
The HC issued the notice while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by the Growers Flowers Council of India (GFCI), contending that the notification banning single-use plastic did not include plastic flowers.
Citing a report of the International Association of Packaging Research Institute (IAPRI), the pela contended that the maximum thickness of plastic flowers is 30 microns, the minimum thickness is 29 microns, and the average thickness is 29 microns.
Petitioner’s advocate Aseem Naphade submitted that the MPCB issued a notification on March 8, 2022, prohibiting production, stocking, distribution and sale of single-use plastic items. He added that although the notification included plastic sticks, ice cream sticks, plates, and cups, it did not mention anything about plastic flowers.
He said the Maharashtra Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Act, 2006 also empowered the state government to issue notification prohibiting the use of such materials. A letter by state Commissioner of Agriculture to the Union MoEFCC on October 14, 2020 explicitly expressed concern over use of plastic flower, though single-use plastic is banned for various purposes.
On the concern raised by the petition seeking ban, the HC said: “Concerns needs to be addressed at the earliest for the simple reason that if other items less than 100 microns have been prohibited, there does not appear to be any impediment in prohibiting plastic flowers as well.”
Highlighting the seriousness of the issue, the Chief Justice said that during a visit to a protection home for kids in Lucknow, he learnt that plastic was found in the children's excreta.
“I must tell you a horrifying experience. There is a protection home for over 200 destitute children in Lucknow containing those facing cerebral palsy etc and running well. But When I interacted with the person managing the home, those were children who could not differentiate between edibles and non-edibles and in their excreta, this plastic was found. It is shocking. Therefore, you have to be very serious,” the Chief Justice told the government pleader.
The court has asked the state to file an affidavit in four weeks and asked the petitioner to file an additional affidavit in one week thereafter.
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