TN ropes in consultants to advise on single-use plastic ban

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has roped in international management consultants, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for advising the urban and local bodies to implement the single-use plastic ban properly.

The state government had imposed a ban on single-use plastic in 2019.

The PWC is given a brief to set up a project management consultancy that would advise the urban and local bodies on the ban of single-use plastic.

The international management consultants would be providing analysis on the single-use plastic ban at district levels and will do the third-party monitoring. The PMC will provide proper inputs on whether the state has gone wrong in implementing the ban properly.

Tamil Nadu was one of the first states that brought in all the producers, importers, and brand owners (PIBO) under the Extended Producer's Responsibility (EPR). A company brought under the ambit of EPR will have to collect the waste, get it recycled, and obtain a certificate from the state pollution control boards.

Tamil Nadu pollution control board officials also told IANS that things are improving in the state and the problematic plastic is being recycled and reused through buyback systems.

Sources in the TNPCB told IANS that with the international level management consultancy being roped in by the state government, there would be improvement in compliance of the single-use plastic ban.