The Supreme Court has been informed that a gazette notification is expected to be issued by November 1, making it mandatory to charge a fee for plastic shopping bags, so they can no longer be given free of charge by traders.
The announcement by the Minister of Environment and other respondents during the hearing of a fundamental rights petition filed by the Centre for Environmental Justice, which requested a court order to implement a program to reduce the use of polythene due to the environmental damage it causes.
A motion related to the case submitted by the Centre for Environmental Justice was taken up today before a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, Justice Kumudini Wickremasinghe and Justice Sampath Abeykoon.
