Nearly 1.5 years after plastic was banned in the city, markets continue to be awash with plastic.
A review by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday acknowledged the failure to implement the ban. “The problem with plastic has not come down. Waste disposal continues to be an issue,” he said.
Officials resolved to use waste plastic for the construction of roads. While infusing 8% plastic waste into bitumen increases the cost by ₹21,000 per tonne, these surfaces last longer than using just bitumen for road-laying, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials said during the meeting. The Chief Minister ordered the use of plastic in all road-laying, and the notification is expected to be issued by Tuesday.
Since the ban, BBMP has seized 1 lakh kg of plastic while ₹1.67 crore has been collected as fines, said Manjunath Prasad, Commissioner, BBMP. “BBMP officials do not have the power to file cases. We have written to the Centre about this, but there has been no response so far,” he said.
