Delhi govt to ban use of plastic bags
The Delhi government, in a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, decided to impose a blanket ban on manufacture, sale, storage and use of plastic bags in the national capital. The Cabinet meeting was presided over by chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
Senior Delhi government officials confirmed that the use of plastic cover pouch to pack magazines, invitation cards and greeting cards will also be prohibited. The green groups have been demanding a blanket ban on plastic bags in the capital for long.
The government has decided to impose the ban as per provision of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 under which the violators could face imprisonment up to five years and fine of upto `1 lakh or both.
“Polythene bags are dangerous for the mother earth. The Cabinet has decided to impose a ban on manufacture, sale, storage and usage of plastic bags in Delhi considering its adverse impact on the environment and ecology,” Ms Dikshit told reporters here after the Cabinet meeting.
As per the decision, no person including shopkeepers, vendors, wholesalers, retailers and hawkers will be allowed to sell, store or use plastic carry bags for supply of any goods.
“Plastic bags have been causing blockage of sewerage network in the city resulting in serious public health-related problems,” she added.
Earlier the city government had imposed a ban on the use of plastic bags in year 2009 in various markets, shopping malls, hotels and hospitals following the Delhi high court order but it has not produced any desired result.
As per earlier notification, no person was permitted to manufacture, stock, distribute or sell any carry bag made of virgin or recycled plastic of less than 40 microns in thickness.
Officials said the Cabinet took the decision as the existing ban on plastic bags, which did not include manufacturing activities, have not produced any desired results. Plastic carry bags for use, as specified under the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 will not be covered under the ban.
Officials said the ban would come into force after issuance of a notification to this effect. “The notification will be issued soon,” they said.
Comments
A plastic bag ban in Delhi
Shikha
12 Sep 2012 - 18:08
A plastic bag ban in Delhi will not succeed, because plastic bags are so useful to people in everyday life that they will try to find a way round the ban. Also, we cannot afford to put people out of work in the plastics industry. Will the government be happy to criminalise thousands of people, and do not the courts and police have much more serious problems to deal with? The alternatives, such as paper bags, are even worse for the environment.
The only problem with plastic bags is that they can lie or float around for decades in the environment, but this problem has now been solved. There is a new type of plastic called d2w which can be made by factories in Delhi using an additive supplied by a UK company called Symphony Environmental. There is little or no extra cost and no loss of jobs, and at the end of its useful life a d2w bag converts into a biodegradable material. Life-cycle Assessments by Intertek in 2011 and 2012 put the environmental credentials of d2w plastic ahead of conventional plastic, bio-based plastic, paper, and cotton bags.
The Delhi Government (and all India) should do what the United Arab Emirates have done, and require all short-life plastic (not just shopping bags) to be made with d2w. There is a portable device called the d2Detector supplied by Symphony which the government can use to tell instantly whether a bag is made with d2w, without taking it to a laboratory.
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