Bhubaneswar: The civic body has started an online registration process for vendors using plastic carry bags in the city under the new Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.

The prospective vendors can visit the new website www.swm.bmc.gov.in of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and register themselves by hitting the tab "permit for using plastic carry bags".

They will be auto-guided to register themselves with required details of their shops and vending zones. "We have decided to ease the process by allowing vendors and shopkeepers to register themselves using the website," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

Jena said they had the data of the number of shopkeepers and vendors operating in the city and asked them to register by themselves. If someone fails to do so, he or she will be penalised according to the provisions of the new rules. "We will fix a deadline for the registration and analyse the data later. If someone is found missing in the list, they will be penalised," said the mayor.

Under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, every person who wants to use plastic below 50 microns will have to register with the civic body. The corporation will collect a registration fee of Rs 2,000 from the vendors and shop owners towards management of the plastic waste.

The civic body has also reached a final stage of getting an independent agency, which will device a mechanism for segregation, collection, storage, transportation and recycling of the plastic waste. "The firm will put up a mechanism for collection of plastic waste through rag pickers in a safer manner," said an official.

Bhubaneswar generates about 15,330 tonnes of polythene waste every year, and it does not have any mechanism for safe segregation and disposal of the waste. "The new plastic waste management rules has some good features, which will discourage people from using it. It is not feasible to ban plastic altogether, it has to be done in a certain manner," said environmentalist Sailabala Padhi.