Ban on Plastics

Despite a popular demand for it, and Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh having already set a precedent, India allow for not have a concealment ban on elastic carry bags. The Environment Ministry has instead proposed place in place a stricter regulatory regime for plastic pay offrs.If the manufacture of biodegradable plastic carry bags is planned to be made mandatory, that besides in strict adherence to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specifications, the stress is as well as on better waste management.That the Ministry would not go in for a blanket ban was clear on Thursday when it came stunned with its public notice on its draft notification for the newborn fictile (Manufacture, Usage and toss off Management) Rules, 2009.A senior Environment Ministry official confirm it saying, There cannot be a blanket ban. Except, perhaps for Bangladesh, no separate country has it. So, the new Rules have proposed a ban on the manufacture, stock, scattering a nd sale of any recycled, biodegradable and saturated plastic bags which is less than 1812 inches in size and less than 40 microns in thickness. It give help in a better post-use collection (by rag pickers). The Ministry will issue a final notification by factoring in the necessary responses to the draft received in the next 60 days.The new proposals argon in line with Environment Minister Jairam Rameshs assertions in the Parliament that a complete ban on plastic would root in felling of more trees as people would switch to paper bags, a by-product of wood. He had advocated the promotion of biodegradable plastic carry bags instead, scour as he blamed the municipal bodies for failing to properly lag or recycle solid waste. Rameshs statement had then displace sharp criticism from Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikhsit.Focusing more on the plastic manufacturers, the Ministry has now proposed that every plastic manufacturer should compulsorily cypher or mark from each one plastic ba g whether its recycled, virgin or biodegradable along with its size and thickness. The manufacturers name, savoir-faire and registration number issued by State Pollution Control Boards should withal be marked in Hindi, English and local language, on each plastic carry bag or container.The new proposals have evoked a mixed response though. There should be a identical yardstick across the country. Delhi has banned plastic but Maharashtra has not. Biodegradable plastic is used in Delhi but not here. Our managing committee is meeting at present to finalise our stance on the Environment Ministrys new proposals, Mahendra B Parmar, president, All India Plastic Manufacturers Association (AIPMA), told The Pioneer over telephone from Mumbai.Indias plastic industry is worth Rs 50,000 crore and provides employment to around 50 hundred thousand workers. And plastic accounts for 3.9 per cent of Indias solid waste.Amiya Kumar Sahu, president, National Solid Waste Association of India, however, said the codification mechanism would help in a better solid waste management, as it would need even the little or illegal manufacturers to have a technology upgradation. The big manufacturers are surely going to benefit then, he pointed out.