Water bottles below half litre capacity flood market
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 29 2025: Making a mockery of the Manipur Plastic Policy 2022 and the ban on plastic water bottles below one litre capacity, pet water bottles below half litre capacity are now seen abundantly in markets.

The Manipur Plastic Policy 2022 was formulated with the primary objective of reducing plastic pollution.

Under the same policy, single use plastics thinner than 50 microns and pet water bottles below one litre capacity were banned in the State.

Earlier on February 16, 2021, the then Additional Chief Secretary (Forest, Environment and Climate Change) MH Khan issued a notification whereby manufacture, stocking and sale of pet plastic bottles below one litre capacity were banned in the State.

Water bottles below half litre capacity flood market

However, a number of firms producing packaged drinking water have started producing packaged drinking water in bottles below even half a litre capacity.

They are already producing packaged drinking in pet bottles of half litre capacity in total defiance of the Manipur Plastic Policy 2022 and the notification issued earlier.

Some of these companies engaged in producing packaged drinking water have started marketing packaged drinking water in pet plastic bottles of 200 ml.

According to the notification issued on February 16, 2021, manufacturers, stockists, traders and users of pet water bottles must formulate a buy back mechanism (of used plastic bottles).

Moreover, the buy back price should be printed clearly on the pet plastic bottles.

The same notification also directed pet plastic bottle manufacturers, sellers, traders and users to devise recollection mechanisms and develop recycling units in consultation with relevant local bodies.

Although plastic bottle banks have been found installed in some parts of Imphal city, there is no sign of any authority monitoring whether the plastic bottle banks are being used properly or not.

Manipur Plastic Policy 2022 lays down that anyone who violates the policy is liable to be punished under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 (Section 15).Defaulters may be imprisoned for up to five years and fined up to Rs five lakh or both, the policy mentioned.

On the other hand, the authorities are still unable to enforce the ban on single use plastics effectively.

Notably, the Government has been issuing orders or notifications banning single use plastics of certain thickness and lower from time to time since 10 years back.

The authorities would carry out drives against these banned single use plastics for a couple of days in a year and then they would go completely silent.

As such, the ban on single use plastics and pet water bottles below half litre capacity remains abysmally ineffective.

One environmentalist said that the single use plastics and small pet water bottles have severely aggravated environmental pollution.

With these bottles clogging drains, they often cause artificial floods at the slightest rainfall.

These used pet water bottles and other plastic wastes ultimately drain into Loktak Lake and other wetlands, thereby severely degrading the ecology of these water bodies, he said.

He then highlighted the urgent need to enforce the ban on single use plastics effectively in order to reduce the growing pressure on environment and ecology.

Recently the Government issued yet another order banning single use plastics and even went on a drive, penalising some shops for selling the same.

No one now knows what has happened to the drive.