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: Life without plastic. Most of us can’t imagine one. Consider ferrying a month’s ration to your seventh floor apartment without any polybags. Now that’s no mean task, you’d think. But soon we will be on our own — without that ‘indispensable polybag’. The recent directive by Delhi government banning plastic is all set to change the way we live.
“We understand the need and urgency of going green, but the polythene bag is a part of our being today. We can’t imagine a day without it. But what is the alternative in hand,” questions software professional Meera Sayal. And this popular sentiment is shared not just by the shoppers but by shopkeepers, traders and plastic manufacturers.
Biz wise
Parveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General, Confederation of All India Traders shares that there are 2,000 plastic manufacturers in the NCR and 10,000 traders in businesses related to plastic bags. It amounts to a business of 10,000-12,000 crores annually. He seeks, “How the government can impose a ban without giving any kind of reasonably prized alternative and not taking the stake holders in consultation? It is a good attempt and we appreciate the cause. But it should not have come at a gun point. The government should have given an educational and transitional period for alternatives to develop.”
However, Environment Secretary, Department of Environment, Government of Delhi, JK Dadoo states, “We have spent 20 lakhs on advertisements alone to educate people, since the High Court’s ban was announced on August 7, 2008, and traders still feel that they need a transition time. They have to understand that choked drains lead to collection of dirty water and create breeding grounds for disease-spreading vectors.”
RK Aggarwal, Vice-President North, All India Plastic Manufacturers Association, affirms that presently there is no substitute for plastic. He questions, “Why just carry bags have been targeted. What about Mother Dairy milk pouches, gutka pouches, chips packets, biscuit packs — which have no reuse potential and are immediately thrown away after use.” A view also shared by Kushal PS Yadav, Coordinator, Centre for Science and Environment, “It is good step and the government should not go back on it. But why the government has missed out on pet bottles, which is most difficult to recycle. They should impose ‘extended producer responsibility’ mechanism for the recycling and disposing of pet bottles, which is a bigger threat than the carry bags owing to their...
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