panaji goa environment department officials will be holding a meeting with scrap dealers in the state to understand the kind of waste that is being collected and what waste is being rejected by these scrap dealersas the state government is preparing a framework to reduce the generation of waste it plans to use this informal sector involving ragpickers and scrap dealers in a big way to see that a large quantum of nonbiodegradable waste reaches the recyclersin the meantime the environment department is also in the process of engaging an agency which can prepare a uniform policy for extended producer responsibility epr to involve manufacturers of products in recovering waste generated by their product packaging goa environment minister nilesh cabral told toiafter holding discussions with the scrap dealers the state wants to see if an amount can be fixed to pay ragpickers to collect all waste recycleable and nonrecyclable at present ragpickers only collect waste like pet bottles which are recyclable recyclers pay between rs 8 to rs 12 per piece for pet bottles depending on the sizethe idea is to bring all types of waste back into the systemthe state environment ministry had decided to impose a complete ban on use of all plastics below 50 microns from january 2020 the state also wanted to ban all items sold in small quantities in plastic and nonrecyclable multilayered packaging like chips packets satchets pet bottles below 500ml among others rules were also framed to impose such a ban however the state has decided to keep the ban on hold for now the plan was changed as manufacturers of such materials have now promised to treat the nonrecyclable waste caused from their products themselvescurrently all nonrecyclable packaging is baled and sent to cement factories where it is used as fuel to burn at very high temperatures goa does not have such factories and is therefore dependent on other states