Central action on plastic

MUMBAI, August 6: The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is contemplating a ban on plastic carry bags. A task force has been set ...

MUMBAI, August 6: The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is contemplating a ban on plastic carry bags. A task force has been set up to work out the modalities of the ban, M R Shah, Chief Engineer, Solid Waste Management Department, BMC informed a gathering of NGOs, environmentalists and the general public today.

A task force set up by the MoEF would be examining three aspects of the ban: the cost benefits, a public awareness drive and alternatives to the plastic carry bag, Shah informed. The meeting was called for by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and aimed at spreading an awareness amongst citizens and to express their solidarity with Mayor Nandu Satam’s proposal to ban the plastic bags. Activists lobbied hard for alternatives like paper, cloth and jute bags.

“People say cloth bags become dirty, but so do our clothes. Why not just wash them,” BNHS Director Dr Asad Rahmani said. Kisan Mehta of the Save Bombay Committee urged the Central government to immediately ban the production ofplastic bags below a certain thickness. This would automatically increase the cost of production and thus dissuade their free’ distribution. “The use of non-biodegradable products should be discouraged at least in single use disposables like plastic carry bags,” Mehta said. The evil of the plastic carry bag is that it had only a single use and it could not be reused or resold, he added.

Sunil Zaveri of the BNHS felt that the government must impose heavy sales tax on plastic manufacturers as was done in Himachal Pradesh and Kerala to curb their menace.

Debi Goenka of the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) cautioned the BMC against rushing into a ban on plastic bags. “The industry will certainly respond with a stay order from the courts, so the BMC must first study the legal provisions of banning the plastic bags.”

Navy Nagar shows the way

MUMBAI, August 6: If you thought living without the ubiquitous plastic bag was impossible, there’s an entire enclave in Mumbai which has all butbanned these carry bags. And this was done over two years ago. Navy Nagar, the verdant tip of South Mumbai which houses defence personnel, has declared the area a plastic bag-free zone.

The exercise started at the naval base in Cochin a few years ago and was egged along by Vice Admiral Madhvendra Singh. When the Admiral took over as Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command, this year, he pushed Navy Nagar’s awareness campaign ahead by several steps. “Our programme has been quite successful, and we’re happy with the results,” Commodore Mahendra P Taneja, Chief Staff Officer (operations), WNC said. Navy Nagar’s problems began when the carry bag made its entry in 1992. “We found sewage and household drains being regularly clogged with these little bags,” a senior naval officer explains.

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“We ended up spending a lot of time and money clearing manholes and ripping out whole rows of household drains right up to the tenth floor in some of our multi-storeyed buildings.” The problem was tracedto the plastic carry bags handed out by shopkeepers, and two years ago, a drive was started to eliminate them. Display boards placed at vantage points exhorted residents to desist from using plastic bags. Handbills highlighting hazards of plastic bags were distributed, and reminders were sent to residents to sustain the drive. Residents lent their support. Shopkeepers have been handing out their purchases in paper bags. However, officials admit they have not managed to completely eliminate plastic bags. For items that weigh a kilo and above, paper bags don’t work, and for such items shopkeepers still stock large plastic bags.

“To overcome this, we have begun a drive to segregate organic and non-biodegradable garbage,” Commodore Taneja says.