Andhra Pradesh announces ban on plastic flexis

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday announced a total ban on the use of plastic Flexi banners in the State and said AP would be made a plastic-free state by 2027.

The ban on plastic flexis was the first step in this direction and only cloth flexis would be permitted from now on, he said.

The Chief Minister was in the city to participate in a programme held at Andhra University Convention Centre here in association with `Parley for the Oceans’, a member of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet (GASP) which organised the world’s first beach cleanup endeavor in the morning.

Addressing the gathering, Jagan noted that the world’s biggest beach cleaning programme from Coastal Battery to Bheemunipatnam in the city was achieved on the occasion with nearly 76 tons of plastic wastes removed from the sea. It was important to protect the sea which gave 70 per cent of the oxygen and there was a need to achieve economic progress even while protecting the environment, he stated.

“The Andhra Pradesh government is sincere in its approach. We have close to 4,000 vehicles to lift garbage,” he revealed.
Later, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Parley for the Oceans for setting up a plastic recycling unit in the city.