The GHMC on Tuesday gave up its insistence of banning all plastic carry bags and settled to prohibit bags that are thinner than 40 microns from July 1, in line with the Central government directions. To make it easy for customers to make out the difference, GHMC is in talks with manufacturers to print the thickness on the bags. This will be essential because the GHMC plans to penalise, from a later date, anyone found carrying thin bags.
GHMC has set up a control room to receive complaints regarding plastic bags on phone number 9704-601-866. The revised orders were announced by the mayor, Ms Kartikha Reddy, the deputy mayor, Mr Jaffar Hussain, and the GHMC commissioner, Mr M.T. Krishna Babu. The AP Plastic Manufacturers Association chairman, Mr Anil Reddy, said the industry would give a self-declaration to GHMC that it would not produce, sell or use plastic carry bags below 40-micron thickness.
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Plastic Ban Doomed to FAIL?
The ban imposed by GHMC on plastic bags measuring below 40 microns in thickness might fail to yield any result once it finally comes into effect on Friday. Reason? Well, the ministry of environment and forests as in an earlier order allowed the packaging industry to use all kinds of plastic material, even that measuring less than 40 microns.
The environment ministry had issued a directive in February this year banning the use of all plastic below 40 microns and the local municipality is adhering to this directive. However, what the GHMC seems unaware of is the amendment to this MoEF directive which was made following representations from various quarters. In April, the ministry made an amendment to its plastic ban and allowed the use of plastic below 40 microns for packaging goods which are "sealed prior to use". It even exempted plastic used for packaging, from the `carry bag' category to justify its move.
The environment ministry had issued a directive in February this year banning the use of all plastic below 40 microns and the local municipality is adhering to this directive. However, what the GHMC seems unaware of is the amendment to this MoEF directive which was made following representations from various quarters. In April, the ministry made an amendment to its plastic ban and allowed the use of plastic below 40 microns for packaging goods which are "sealed prior to use". It even exempted plastic used for packaging, from the `carry bag' category to justify its move.
While GHMC officials, all through their no-plastic campaign, made no mention of this amendment, the revised clause is likely to create much confusion in the implementation of the ban. City retailers admit that over 70 per cent of the plastic used for packaging is below 40 microns. So even after the ban is implemented, Hyderabad could still be sitting on a huge pile of `harmful' plastic. Apart from local kirana stores and street vendors, retailers say, even supermarkets and malls use plastic below 40 microns to pack their products. "It is not possible to use thick plastic for packaging. So we have no choice but to use plastic that measures somewhere between 10-20 microns," said an official of a supermarket chain in Hyderabad.
Experts from the field agree with this claim. They, however, add that plastic used for packaging can prove as harmful as other carry bags below 40 microns, in the absence of a proper waste management system. "It all boils down to the way plastic waste is disposed. The plastic used by the packaging industry could also lead to environmental concerns if not treated the right way," said T K Bandopadyay, senior technical manager, Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment (ICPE), Mumbai.
Experts from the field agree with this claim. They, however, add that plastic used for packaging can prove as harmful as other carry bags below 40 microns, in the absence of a proper waste management system. "It all boils down to the way plastic waste is disposed. The plastic used by the packaging industry could also lead to environmental concerns if not treated the right way," said T K Bandopadyay, senior technical manager, Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment (ICPE), Mumbai.
But the local municipality is unaware of such technicalities. Sources from the plastic industry claim that GHMC, the implementing body for the plastic ban, is clueless about this MoEF amendment. "During our talks with officials of the department over the last few weeks, we realised that the authorities knew little either about the primary order or the revised clause issued in April. That's the reason they have steered clear of mentioning it all this while," a market source said.
Despite repeated attempts, mayor Karthika Reddy or GHMC commissioner M T Krishna Babu, remained unavailable for comment.
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