Plastic Ban Must Be Implemented More Forcefully
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By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-06-30 11:13:38
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The India Commentary view
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From July 1, another phase of single-use plastic ban will kick in across India. In this phase, many common use items like plastic packing boxes (mainly for sweets), cutlery, cups and glasses, tubes used in ear buds, sticks used in ice cream lollies and the like are being banned. The manufacture and sale of these items are prohibited from July 1 and punishment ranges from stiff fines to jail terms for repeat offence. But as in earlier phases of the ban, the real tests lies in implementation as it is seen that despite the ban on plastic carry bags under 75 microns from October 1, 2021 nothing has changed and thinner bags are being used by all vendors with impunity in all markets across the country. It is a huge challenge implementing the ban and more than the items that are now sought to be banned, it is the thinner plastic carry bags, given by small vegetable, fruits and fish vendors and small grocery shops to customers across the country that are thrown away in household refuse and clog the drains.
That obviously does not mean that the government should not ban other items. But what it does mean is that the focus of implementing the ban should be more on these thinner carry bags. Since the manufacturing units and distribution points are well known, the government should crack down on them to prevent manufacture and sales. The plastic carry bags have already gone through several phases of ban but none has succeeded. Before October 2021, the threshold was 50 microns. In January 2023 it will be 120 microns. But as of now, it is common to find bags thinner than 50 microns across the country. How are they being manufactured and distributed with impunity despite the ban? Further, how have Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim managed to completely do away with them? There is a lack of will among the administrations in other states to enforce the ban strictly. More than penalizing small vendors who are huge in number, the best way would be to raid manufacturing units and wholesale markets and penalize those manufacturing and selling thinner bags.
Simultaneously, the government must provide incentives to units making substitutes which are now very costly. Although many takeaways have adopted these eco-friendly packing materials and cutlery, the price is very and supply is nowhere near the demand. The government must support these units, invest in R&D to develop more substitutes and ensure that single-use plastic is totally replaced with eco-friendly and competitively priced substitutes as the phases of the plastic ban move forward.
Picture courtesy: cropped from an image shared by UNEP, caption ours
