The Andhra Pradesh Thermoformers Association appealed to the State and Central governments to exempt disposable or plastic glasses from the ban imposed on July 1.
In a press conference here on Saturday, Association president D. Srinivasa Rao said that the State government had banned disposable glasses and permitted the use of certain single-use plastics having over 75 microns of plastic but the disposable glasses being manufactured now have more than 100 microns of plastic. Considering this, the governments should exempt such glasses from the ban, he said.
“Disposable glasses are mostly used at function halls where they are disposed of properly and can be fully recycled. It is unfortunate that disposable glasses are banned even as the packaging of a wide range of food items continues to be plastic,” Mr. Srinivasa Rao said.
He said that the government should lift the ban on disposable glasses for at least two years or permit the manufacturing of glasses with more than 100 microns of plastic.
Association general secretary S. Rama Raju said there are over 1,000 disposable glass manufacturers in the country and over five lakh people are dependent on the industry. He said all the dependents will lose employment due to the ban. He said several manufacturers took loans due to the COVID-19 pandemic through the government and are yet to repay them.
