18% GST forces hotels to junk biodegradable packaging

Mumbai: For hotels and restaurants, a higher  GST on environment-friendly  and biodegradable material is the biggest stumbling block to using cutlery made of bagasse (pulpy fiber extracted from sugarcane juice) for serving and parcels. While bagasse attracts 18% GST, plastic despite being banned comes cheaper with only 5% GST. The taxation is in stark constrast to the government’s own po…