Did Someone Say Plastic Is Banned In Pune?

September 27, 2018

Plastic Ban — Image used for representation only

With the heat of the famed statewide ban of plastic now off, it is all back to normal in the city. Plastic is all over the place and no one cares to check micron levels anymore!

The recent festive season was a classic example where plastic bags were used rampantly and local vendors, retailers and eateries and bakeries were using bags below the 50 micron acceptable levels.

Barkhat Bhalla, Active Citizen, says, “It was bound to happen, there is no alternative solution for plastic here. What are the vendors supposed to do?

Bags above 50 microns are allowed but I have received the same old plastic bags from different vendors several times.”

The ban will only be effective if the government is firm on their decision. First they imposed the ban on all plastic products, later they changed and allowed bags with 50 microns and other plastic products. These change has diluted the impact of the ban.

While officials from PCMC have claimed that they’re going to take stringent action against the one with providing plastic, yet, nothing seems to be happening and the fruit sellers, vegetable vendor, small eateries still pack a meal in plastic carry bags, Bhalla added

Megha Deshmukh, senior professional says, “In a recent announcement The Maharashtra Environment Department has said that they have decided to take strict actions against those carrying banned plastic from October 1, which again will be yet another failed attempt at this rate.

During the Ganesh festival, the use of plastic was so high that it was hard to believe that it was banned just a couple of months ago. While the authorities are busy implementing new solutions for the smart city, the city has failed to adhere to the basic and most prominent ban on Plastic.

Instead of focusing on people using plastic, they should promote, reuse and recycle! Deshmukh added.

The bags approved by the government cost us more, and the bags with less than 50 microns are very cheap and easily available in the market, says Ahmed Khan, grocery shop owner.

However, we ensure that we cover them with paper irrespective of what commodity it is. If the government is banning plastic, they should ensure that the cost of the bags approved should not be higher than 5 per cent of the earlier ones. Cloth bags or jute bags are overpriced.

Customers ask for bags even when buying milk and bread, and when denied they refuse to purchase. It has happened many times.

It is unaffordable to give a Rs 5 bag to a customer shopping only of Rs 20. The bags we use are not used often, but yes, we use those plastic bags as we can’t afford the normal one approved by the government, Khan added.

Rohit Tiwari, Designer says, “The banned will only be effective if we have effective authorities or committees on board who ensure that no single plastic bag is available in the market to the local vendors.

If the bags are available easily, there is no end to the use of Plastic Bag.”

The only possible solution is to keep up the ban is spread awareness among people, applying the buyback scheme effectively and setting up different plastic collection centres and installing recycling machines in the city., Tiwari added.

#All views expressed in this article are those of the individual respondents and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.