Banned plastic bags reappear
Highlights
Banned plastic bags reappear. Though the use of non-standard plastic is banned, medical shops, kirana stores, fruits vendors and most of the shops in the city are blatantly using it.
City is ravaged by less than 40 microns plastic
Three years after the ban, city’s solid waste management is in a shambles
Though the use of non-standard plastic is banned, medical shops, kirana stores, fruits vendors and most of the shops in the city are blatantly using it. These can be easily identified by its thin quality. With over a decade of environmentalists’ caution over the perils of these plastics, many cities, including Hyderabad, took numerous steps to ban the use of plastic carry bags, but in vain.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) had itself promoted selling of plastic bags above 40 microns anticipating revenue from the same to be used for waste management, but three years down the line, the solid waste management is in a shambles.
In June 2011, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) had issued a total ban on the use of plastic bags. Strict orders were issued to all commercial establishments. The then Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy took up many awareness programmes to educate people about the ill-effects of plastic. However, following an uproar from the plastic industry, the GHMC backtracked on its decision by lifting a total plastic ban in May 2011. Usage of plastic above 40 micros was allowed and all commercial establishments were asked to sell these high thickness bags. The civic body also stated that the money collected through the sale of plastic bags should go to the urban local body and should be used towards solid waste management processes. Three years later, the money is being collected, but the waste management system is nowhere in sight.
According to Prasanna Kumar, senior scientist with Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB), use of 40 micron plastic doesn’t make the situation any better. The government insists on the use of these plastic carry bags only for its economic value. “When these bags are dumped, their quality is good enough and they are picked up by the rag pickers and dumping agencies, who sell them to the recycling units. Plastic bags with lesser thickness would not fetch the rag pickers or the dumping agencies anything compelling them to ignore these materials lying on the roads,” he explains.
“The rag pickers and the dumping agencies need to pay the government a certain fraction of their income from sale of used plastic bags to fund the recycling units. These agencies often report a lower quantity of the plastic bags than collected to evade the taxes. Hence the GHMC figures on the use of plastic are corrupted,” the senior official said. As a result, only 5-10 per cent plastic material is accounted for in reality 12-15 per cent plastic is found in the total waste.
This results in a lower collection of money that in turn hinders the waste disposal system. The plastic in our city is neither burnt nor composted, it is only dumped. Plastic when burnt in open air releases carcinogenic substances like dioxins and furans which are harmful to the environment.
The scientific method to burn plastic is called incineration requires high temperatures of 1100-1200 degree Celsius which requires a lot of energy and due to lack of funds, is not often carried out. “Unless the interest to protect the environment is guided by economic and political interests, no significant improvements can be brought,” Prasanna Kumar added.
In 2013, the GHMC officials passed an order to all the malls asking them to stop selling the plastic bags and switch to jute or paper bags instead. However, when GVK One was raided by a special GHMC team many irregularities surfaced. The malls complained that the order was not communicated to them, hence it wasn’t implemented. The civic body again took a U turn by asking the malls to continue selling plastic carry bags, clearly stating that people should be charged for using these bags. This, they thought, would discourage the people from using plastic, but clearly it backfired. As when the person had shopped for Rs 300-400 he did not mind shelling out another Rs 3-5 for a carry bag.
They then came up with many innovative schemes to distract people from using plastic bags. While tokens for lucky draws were given to people carrying jute bags in Kukatpally Rythu Bazar, malls and other establishments were asked to encourage the use of paper and cloth bags by putting up stickers / posters / banners in and around the premises. Some stores even went to the extent of giving a discount to the customers who bring their own jute bags.
There is a hindrance at every step, from the rag pickers to the manufacturers, for the implementation of the ban on plastic bags. It is not enough if the government simply issues deterrents, it requires a close follow up of the situation and appropriate measures to prevent the use of plastic bags for environment protection.
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