Mumbai bans plastic, with £275 fines and three months in JAIL

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Maharashtra state, including the city of Mumbai, has banned single-use plastic
First time offenders will be fined 5,000 rupees (£55) if caught with a bag
Three strikes and punishment is 25,000 rupees (£277) and three months in jail

Published: 11:52 EDT, 25 June 2018 | Updated: 16:21 EDT, 25 June 2018

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The Indian city of Mumbai has banned single-use plastic, with offenders caught using disposable cutlery or bags facing up to three months in jail and heavy fines.

A state-wide ban in Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located, was implemented this weekend, with special inspectors targeting restaurants and food shops before the new rules begin to apply to residents today.

A first-time offender will be fined 5,000 rupees (£55), then 10,000 rupee (£111) if the offence is repeated. After three strikes, the punishment is 25,000 rupees (£277) and three months in jail.

Ban: Single-use plastic, including cutlery, bottles and bags, is now banned in Mumbai and across the state of Maharashtra

The ban was announced in March, and shops and restaurants in the city, which has a population of some 22million, have had three months to get rid of their stocks.

The ban, implemented for shops and restaurants on Saturday and residents on Monday, applies to any single-use or disposable plastic, including shopping bags, plastic cutlery, PET bottles and gloves.

Some 87 shops have already been fined, and the Mumbai retailers association has threatened to go on a strike from Wednesday unless the local government adhere to their requests to allow buyback on some plastic containers.

They also demand that the ban be postponed until the end of the monsoon season, as the hot and wet weather is making it difficult to store some products in non-plastic containers, Hindustan Times reports.

Promises: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged improve India's environment and clean up the country by the time his term ends in 2019

India generates around 5.6million tonnes of plastic waste annually, according to government figures, and a series of efforts have been carried out in recent years to try to combat the waste.

Maharashtra has become the 18th state in India to completely ban single-use plastic, but despite a pledge by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clean up the country by the time his term ends in 2019, the ban is reportedly rarely enforced in larger cities.

Plastic bags are still the staple for carrying vegetables, fruit, meat and restaurant takeaways across India.

India, Asia's third-largest economy, was recently found to have 14 of the world's 15 worst cities for dirty air, according to a World Health Organization survey.