Say no to plastic from July 1

HYDERABAD: Come July 1, the GHMC’s ban on all types of plastic bags will come into effect. The ban applies to manufacture, sale, storage and use of plastic bags, irrespective of their thickness. Until now, although the Union government had banned bags of less than 40 microns, state government implemented the ban only on bags of less than 20 microns. But now the GHMC has decided to go the whole hog.If really effectively implemented, you won’t be able to push your grocery-laden trolley to the pay counter and assume that the clerk will pack them all in plastic bags for you to carry home. You won’t be able to walk out of malls flashing colourfully branded plastic bags. All bags of all thickness are banned. But OMG, green is great, but what do you do without plastic bags.“It was getting difficult to regulate the use of plastic bags. How does the common man differentiate between 40 microns or 20 microns,’’ asks mayor Banda Karthika Reddy, “That’s why we decided to go in for a blanket ban. Citizens will just have to switch to jute and cotton bags.” If you defy the ban?Any trader violating the ban will have to cough up a hefty penalty or risk closure of his business. A fine of Rs 500 will be imposed on individuals found using polythene bags.The retail reactionSome retail outlets have already stocked up on the preferred alternatives such as cloth, jute or paper bags. Raj Seelam, managing director of Sresta Natural Bioproducts, says his store, 24 Lettered Mantra, has already started using cloth bags. “Retailers are already switching to jute, cloth and paper bags. They sell for Rs 2, Rs 5 and so on. Jute bags are expensive but cloth and paper bags are quite cheap. The best part is they are reusable,” he says.The ban has drawn support from the causerati. Seelam himself supports it, and veteran actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao is avidly adovating it. “Once people realise the harm caused to the environment by non-biodegradable plastic bags, they will welcome the plastic ban,” says the actor.Green activists are over the moon. Surendra Ram of SAVE, who has been pushing for cloth bags for 16 years, says, “This is a wonderful move. We’ll do our best to make it happen.”While larger businesses are wondering whether they will lose custom if consumers arriving without cloth bags are turned away, small vendors are happy with the plastic ban. In their case, the onus of carrying jute or cloth bags will lie with the buyer rather than on them. So they won’t have to spend on stocking plastic bags. As one vegetable vendor at Umanagar said: “This is good for us. We don’t have to spend our money on plastic bags now.”Crucial factor: ImplementationHowever, it all boils down to implementation. Even though mayor Karthika Reddy is selling the idea as a huge opportunity for self-groups to step in by making and supplying alternative bags, bag makers are not reporting a huge upturn in business. “There are just eight days left for the ban to begin, but still I have very few orders,’’ says P Sanjeeva Rao, a cloth bag manufacturer who supplies to Almond House.   Was the ban the only solution? Most shoppers go to outlets expective to be given a plastic bag to carry their purchases home. “In a city where most people are used to the idea of getting a plastic bag for each item, enforcing the ban altogether will prove difficult,” says M Vedakumar, president of the Forum for A Better Hyderabad The naysayersObviously, manufacturers of plastic bags are displeased with the GHMC’s blanket ban. V Anil Reddy, chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Plastic Manufacturers’ Association says, “The ban is no solution. Banning bags of any thickness is in fact a violation of the government of India rules which prohibit use of bags of less than 40 microns thick. First they should have sensitized citizens to the need to use garbage bins.’’He admits that discarded plastic bags clog drainage pipes but insists that a mountain is being made out of a molehill. “The problem can be dealt with promoting recycling of plastic bags. Plastic bags of more than 20 microns are easily recyclable,’’ he argues.“The AP High Court has directed the municipal authorities not to interfere in the sale and use of polythene and plastic goods, including carry bags of more than 20 microns thickness. The court asked the GHMC to implement GO.  We are waiting for the government of Andhra Pradesh to supersede the GHMC, if they don’t then we will go to court against GHMC.”  Shiv Kumar Gupta, vice-president of the Katedan Small Scale Manufacturers Association, says the ban won’t work. “The rich might adopt fancy solutions like cloth and jute bags, but how will poor families carry their purchases if plastic carry bags are banned?” He says there are about 900 plastic units in the city and the ban will hit the interests of nearly five lakh families. There is no cheap alternative to plastic and the world knows that.”