Plastic purge: Cleanup Kabadkhana & shift it to green zones, orders NGT

Bhopal: Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports on health and environmental hazards from unregulated plastic waste recycling at Bhopal's "Kabadkhana" junkyard, the National Green Tribunal's Bhopal bench has directed the Madhya Pradesh government to effectively control illegal plastic-recycling units and to frame a policy to relocate functioning units from residential areas to designated industrial zones, citing serious safety concerns for local residents.The bench, comprising judicial member Sheo Kumar Singh and expert member Sudhir Kumar Chaturvedi, has ordered the principal secretary, environment; the MPPCB; and the collectors and municipal corporations of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Rewa and Ujjain to take necessary steps to stop illegal operations and ensure that such units are moved to appropriate industrial zones. It has also directed the state government to ensure that the Multi-Layered Plastic (MLP) industry immediately works to replace non-degradable plastic in MLP packaging with biodegradable material.The tribunal further directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to encourage units to adopt dissolution techniques for extracting aluminium from foils, separating the plastic, and to convert MLP and metalized plastic waste into laminated waste, granules, and blocks for use in value-added products. The municipal corporations of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Rewa and Ujjain are directed to examine existing plastic waste disposal facilities and take remedial measures. The MPPCB and the municipal corporations of these six cities are instructed to periodically monitor the quality of drinking water and wetlands in and around municipal areas, twice a year in a recognized lab, specifically for microplastics, and take necessary public health precautions. The tribunal has asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to form an expert team, including members of CPCB, ICMR, CIPET and other institutions, to study microplastic pollution, recommend standards, and suggest remedial steps for municipal areas. CPCB is also directed to study sampling, analysis and permissible limits of microplastics in water, and the health effects of consumption above those limits. The tribunal asked the principal secretary, environment, to consider referring the issue to researchers at MANIT Bhopal to study the sources of microplastics in freshwater and drinking water, treatment efficacy, and the risk of microplastics returning to the environment via sludge and biosolids used on farmland.The tribunal directed the state government to better manage plastic waste, reduce plastic use, and minimize pollution, keeping in mind the health risks from microplastics in drinking water and food. Principal secretary, environment, must monitor implementation through state and district committees; an action-taken report from the principal secretary, MPPCB, collectors and municipal corporations is to be submitted to the tribunal within four weeks, with the next hearing scheduled for 27 March 2026.