Kick plastic, give Mumbai a breather

Those frivolous, multicoloured plastic bags, which hold the weight of our everyday existence, comprise a mere .75 to one per cent of the 5,500 tonnes of garbage this city belches out daily. But that teensy statistic is potent enough to bring the country8217;s industrial capital to a dead halt at least once a year during the monsoon. This, when the per capita consumption of plastic in India is the lowest in theworld.

The mammoth 8211; and extremely cumbersome 8211; clean-up operations mounted by the municipal corporation and railways to weed out plastic bags from the city8217;s vitals every year, ironically, begins and ends with a simple but destructive human habit. That is, the inability to dispose of plastic bags. If only Mumbai8217;s citizens gave this indestructible, non-biodegradable article its due place in the scheme of disposable things, it would not have attained immortality8230; on the beaches, railway tracks, streets and in our drains.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC is helpless in the face of various factors, such as cost, collection of bags, environmental aspects and the substance8217;s resistance to recycling. These bags are fourth or fifth generation plastic, made of leftovers of re-recycled material.The BMC has a pay-by-weight policy for disposal. Garbage sorters 8211; ragpickers and kabadiwalas 8211; are paid by the quantity. This is where the plastic bag becomes a problem.

M R Shah, chief engineer of theBMC8217;s Solid Waste Management Department, explains, 8220;Solid substances form one kilo of the garbage in one hour, whereas to collect one kilo roughly 10,000 to 15,000 plastic bags, a ragpicker could even take a couple of days, and get paid the same amount. So they don8217;t collect them at all.8221; With plastic bags flying all over the city, the open nullahs which comprise the storm water disposal system get choked. The sewage system, on the other hand, is enclosed and has no such problem. The former discharges waste into the sea and includes open water entrances, most of which are unauthorised constructions, gutters and nullahs. And, herein lies the problem.

People carelessly cast plastic-wrapped garbage into the nullahs, from where they float along till they reach the first obstruction. Then they pile up and block the drains. The rest are simply eased out into the sea, which invariably washes them back ashore.

Shah blames Mumbai8217;s citizens. 8220;It is a result of people8217;s habits. If they bothered to think aboutour convenience, this problem would not have arisen. But plastic bags are cheap, convenient and easily disposable, and people dump them anywhere,8221; he says.

The suburban railway system has an equally hard time coping with the plastic deluge. The problem hits hardest during the monsoon, when the bags are sucked into the open drains along the railway tracks. 8220;Plastic bags choke filters in our drains and prevent water from flowing into the BMC8217;s sewer lines,8221; says Western Railway Chief Public Relations Officer CPRO Vinod Asthana.

8220;The problem is especially bad during high tide and heavy rains,8221; adds Mukul Marwah, his counterpart on the Central Railway. As a result, tracks get flooded and commuters suffer endless delays as trains creak to a halt.The Western Railway collects 30,000 cubic metres of garbage annually, and plastic bags comprise nearly half of it. The larger Central Railway collects over 1.1 lakh cubic metres of garbage annually, of which plastic is a substantial part. On platforms, plasticbags dropped into water fountains clog pipes, which carry water to the tracks.

If the railways rely on commuters to use dustbins, they are totally dependent on the BMC to ferry the waste from the tracks to the city8217;s dumping grounds. The plastic bags which accumulate here are not burnt, for fear of releasing toxic fumes. And this is where things come full circle.With no way to dispose of this ubiquitous problem, the BMC was left with no choice but to recommend a ban on plastic bags in a proposal submitted to the state government recently.

Ten days ago, Minister for Environment and Forests Chandrakant Khaire told residents of Dadar Chowpatty that the government is considering the suggestion and to enforce it, it may have to recommend a ban on the very manufacture of these bags.

8220;Is there any other solution,8221; asks Shah, reflecting on our almost innate tendency to resist change. Given this human frailty, perhaps the last resort is preventive legislation. Over to Mantralaya.I SAID NO TOPLASTIC8230;JACKIE SHROFF

The government banning the use of plastic bags is a great idea. For a change, I think the concept of keeping the city clean is going to work out beautifully. We8217;ve been talking about it and have done nothing concrete in this regard, and this is the first step. The beaches, the thing I loved most about this city, are the place I hate going to, because people are constantly disposing their garbage there and they are pathetic! They have become plastic beaches rather than sand-n-surf beaches, which is quite sad. I hope now at least, things will get better. I think that Mumbai citizens should pay more attention to keeping the city clean. The idea of cleanliness arises from within it shouldn8217;t be The government has banned it, now we have no choice8217;. In my house, plastic bags are not allowed. And we try to minimise the use of plastic whenever we can. If everyone does the same, won8217;t it be better? As for the plastic industry, I think they8217;ve made their big bucks, and it8217;s abouttime they started thinking about the world they live in. And if they must make plastic bags, let them make eco-friendly, bio-degradable ones. After all, it8217;s also their children who are growing up in the same world, isn8217;t it? Maybe they should seriously consider giving this country and their kids a better tomorrow.