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 thickness.?

Thereby, leading many to question the reasonability and mechanics behind the carry bag ban. As Professor PS Khillare, School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, points out, ?We are not doing what we are preaching. There is a strong nexus between the NGO?s seeking limelight and government and business bodies and their hidden business motives.?

Experts believe the recycling industry will be worst hit by this move. As Vijay Merchant, National Chairman Enviroplast, Plastindia Foundation states, ?The average recycler is a small entrepreneur with very limited capital, little technical knowledge but great business spirit and enterprising skills. If common effluent plants are provided where 20 or 30 recyclers can drain their waste water even this pollution can be drastically cut. If the government is serious about not killing relatively poor entrepreneurs, they should enforce laws but at the same time help recyclers by providing facilities and also help in awareness of what is good and safe for the society. Incentives need to be offered, education provided by CIPET, IPI, ITIs etc to recycling centres and educate the semi-skilled entrepreneurs.?

The alternates

Plastic penetration is undeniable. Affordability, quality and durability all go in its favour. And the fact remains that there is no swap to plastic carry bags yet. The alternatives in sight vary from jute, paper and biodegradable plastic. But they all have their share of shortcomings. Jute bags are costly, also they cannot hold liquid and hot material, and eco-friendly paper bag?s strength is questionable and so is its availability. Hence the overall question of green cover depletion owing to cutting trees will emerge as the next ecological issue.

With respect to biodegradable technology too there are many a concerns that need to be addressed. Experts agree that the technology is at a nascent stage. Aggarwal cautions, ?It will take at least ten years to develop into a workable alternate. Arable land is limited ? will we grow plastic or food?? Biodegradable technology has to be developed. But like any new technology it will require the right support, incentives and subsidies from the government. Merchant cites biodegradable plastics even in the most developed countries are seen as too costly. They are meant for very limited specific uses like implants, nursery bags, films and not for the hundreds of other uses. India does not have carefully determined standards of degradable plastics nor adequate testing facilities and it is a distant project. Unlike the West even waste collection procedure in India is bad, there waste is segregated and the waste collecting vans take dry waste separately and pass it for recycling or disposal ? there are separate bins for plastic, paper, glass and metals. We do not have any municipality offering this in India and 95% of municipalities do not even enforce segregated waste at source which is mandated by Ministry of Environment and Forests as per the rules since year 2000.

Plastic so far remains the one standard solution. As Kushal shares, ?Simply passing a law will not change the mindset of people. As there is no ready made alternate, people will have to change their thinking patterns, it?s workable if we just mend our ways a bit. The jute bag has long-term use, it will last you for months altogether and so would a cloth bag. Simple things like avoiding mixing up dry waste with dirty kitchen or wet waste we can reduce the dirt that sticks to plastic waste and thus make the much needed difference.?

Professor Khillare cautions that penalty and laws in such cases usually backfire, ?It?s become fashionable to ban things, without finding a viable alternate. It?s the responsibility of the government and the civil society to bring about a change in the mindset. As the ?use and throw away lifestyle? that we have adopted has led to this crises. And society and mindsets cannot change overnight by such legislations.?

Can the government get it right ? that throwing and not reusing plastic should be punishable and not using or carrying it.