Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

With insensitive citizens, it’s an ineffective ban City Pulse

HYDERABAD: The spirit of some rules and regulations is more flouted than followed and that too, with knowledge for the need to adhere to them and the perils of not following them. The indiscriminate usage of plastic in daily life happens to be one such issue. Despite awareness campaigns and publicity on the threats posed by the non-biodegradable nature of plastic and legislation in place prohibiting certain categories of the material, one finds them in circulation with little concern.

The State government has orders citing the threat to human health and environment from discarded plastic. The orders cite the non-biodegradable nature and state that littering of plastic causes irreversible damage to the environment. From hindering the natural aeration process of the surface water bodies, choking municipal sewer lines to interfering with various agricultural operations, it is also pointed out that consumption of food wrapped in coloured plastic has adverse effects on health. Reports on death of cows and other animals from ingesting plastic bags too are routinely reported.

However, plastic has been turning so omnipresent that from wrapping a pan to meat to carrying home an artefact from a shopping mart, it is put to use. Though the government has placed a ban on manufacture, sale and use of recycled and coloured plastic carry bags less than 20 microns in thickness, implementation has been lacking, both from enforcement agencies and also voluntarily from the citizens.

Whether one stops by at a wine store for his choicest liquor or bring home meat, the shopper happily hands the same in black coloured carry bag. Even those visiting a temple end up carrying a coconut and other ‘puja’ material with a plastic bag. As a city-based social scientist associated with a government agency points out, “plastic has become all pervading and there is little effort either societal or at individual level to take steps and forestall future repercussions from it”.

District-level Taskforce Committees were announced for special drives to enforce ban on plastic carry bags to ensure that existing plastic bags of less than 20 microns in thickness were destroyed with not only the manufacturers but also wholesalers, dealers, retailers, supermarkets, pharmaceutical industries. The district administration and municipal authorities have the task of enforcing rules related to the use, collection, segregation, transportation and disposal of plastic bags and containers. Throwing or disposing of the plastic articles in public places had also been prohibited with those found throwing water bottles, cool drink bottles, plastic containers facing penalisation.

However, violations are more commonly found about most things related to doing away with the usage of plastic and the regulations remain confined to papers and discussions and debates.

Those associated with campaigns against plastic stress the need for more concerted initiatives propagating the threat from the material and also to flood the market with alternatives.

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