The Hindu : New Delhi News : Plastic manufacturers plead for removal of ban

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New Delhi

Plastic manufacturers plead for removal of ban

Staff Reporter

Use, sale and storage of all kinds of plastic bags has been banned in the Capital following a notification

NEW DELHI: The All-India Plastic Industries Association has urged the Delhi Government to withdraw its notification dated January 7 banning use, sale and storage of all kinds of plastic bags in the Capital.

Addressing a press conference here, All-India Plastic Industries Association president Ravi Kumar Aggarwal said a large number of people across the city had been rendered jobless following the notification.

“We are trying to get in touch with the Chief Minister. If she doesn’t listen to us then we will approach the Union Government. The livelihood of so many families has been affected,” he said.

Mr. Aggarwal said plastic carry-bags are picked up by rag-pickers and safai karamcharis and recycled.

Stating that public interest litigation had been filed in the Delhi High Court by a non-government organisation calling for a ban on poly bags, Mr. Aggarwal said: “For assessing this, the Delhi High Court constituted a committee of experts. It recommended that the thickness of poly bags be increased to 40 microns instead of the current 20 microns. Taking into consideration the Committee’s recommendations, the Delhi High Court passed an order on August 7, 2008, to increase the thickness from 20 to 40 microns.”

Mr. Aggarwal said that after the High Court’s order the Delhi Government brought a Bill last September accepting its guidelines.

“The Bill was passed in the Assembly increasing the thickness from 20 to 40 microns. Now this notification has come as a great surprise to the plastic industry. It doesn’t mention increasing the thickness of the bag which was the basis of the report.”

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