Delhi High Court refuses to stay the notification
The ban on manufacture, sale and use of most types of plastic bags in the Capital came into force on Friday.
For its part, the Delhi High Court also refused to stay the Delhi Government notification on ban on a petition filed by All-India Plastic Industries Association.
Though the Delhi Government notification issued on October 23 stipulates that nobody can manufacture, import, store, sell or transport any kind of plastic bags, even those used for covering magazines, books, invitation cards and for collecting garbage in the city, the administration on Friday appeared at a loss on how to implement the stringent provisions.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said efforts would be made to create awareness about the issue. She said involvement of the people in making the city free of plastics that pollute the environment would be solicited.
The notification had banned use of most forms of plastics and trading in them. It had stated that no person, including shopkeepers, vendors, wholesalers, retailers and hawkers, will be allowed to sell, store or use plastic bags for supply of any goods. The use of plastic cover/pouch to pack magazines, greeting cards and invitation cards has also been banned.
However, plastic bags used for packing food stuffs like milk, cooking oil, flour and plastic cups have been excluded from its purview. Similarly plastic bags for use, as specified under the Bio Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998, are not covered under the ban.
It was due to such stringent norms, that the Association had urged the court to set aside the notification.
It had challenged the competence of the Delhi Government to notify the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, which was a Central legislation, and submitted that this would affect lakhs of employees engaged in the plastic bags industry. However, the High Court rejected the appeal for a stay on the ban.
Keywords: Plastic bag ban, Delhi government
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.
Moreover, recycled plastic and compostable plastic are not food safe
BUT Oxo-biodegradable plastic complies with EU and US regulations for
direct contact with food.
Regional governments should follow the UAE's lead by developing
standards and implementing and enforcing legislation to make the use
of Symphony Environment's d2w oxo-biodegradable ADDITIVE compulsory
DURING MANUFACTURING OF CONVENTIONAL PLASTIC because of below
mentioned reasons:
• Does not leave fragments of petro-polymers in the soil
• Passes all the standard eco-toxicity tests
• Is safe for long-term contact with food
• Does not contain organo-chlorin, PCBs or 'heavy metals'
• Does not emit methane or nitrous oxide, even deep in a
landfill
• Can be safely recycled
• Can be composed in-vessel
A plastic bag ban in Delhi will not succeed, because plastic bags are
so useful to people in everyday life. Also, we cannot afford to put
people out of work in the plastics industry.
Plastic used for packaging of milk, flour, cooking oil, beverages and
other eatables plays important role in creating plastic pollution.
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
. 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.
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