The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) will soon take action against wholesalers and retailers stocking and selling plastic bags less than 40 microns thick, said Member Secretary K.Karthikeyan.
The drive would be conducted in coordination with the respective local bodies, Mr.Karthikeyan, who took over as TNPCB's Member Secretary recently, told The Hindu here on Monday. “Two years ago we had conducted raids and they [the trade] had said that they will not bring bags that do not conform to the prescribed standards in to the State. Such substandard bags are still being brought in from other States as the cost is less,” he added.
The TNPCB would insist that the manufacturers print the symbol denoting that plastic products, including PET bottles, pipes and carry bags, were recyclable. “Not many are doing this. If the number inside the triangular symbol is between 1 and 7, that means it can be recycled. Awareness about this is very low. We will be creating awareness about this among consumers,” he said.
Manufacturers of plastic carry bags would also be asked to contribute for setting up plastic waste collection and recycling facilities. “Milk sachets, which can be recycled, are not thrown away by people as they get money by selling them.”
Mr. Karthikeyan said bags above 40 microns could also be recycled and therefore people would be interested in collecting and selling them.
The Board plans to join hands with NGOs to spread awareness about the importance of recycling plastics.
Pollution control board is not strong in implementing the rules ,with the help of pollution control board Noyyal river in Coimbatore is no more the same .Does Chennai have the installed capacity for sewage treatment for all the sewage generated by the population(present and growing)? Does chennai have a system that seperate wet,dry decomposable and non decomposable waste for all the waste generated in the city.Does Chennai recycle all the waste water generated and reuse the same.Does the city public buses have pollution certificate.Are the roads in chennai cleaned of its dust and debries so that your drive on the road is comfortable.There are lot of work for the pollution control board to do in the state run department.But to my knowledge such actions are rarely done or its halfway stopped.What may be the govt that comes to power these people get salary , benefits after retirement and salary raise ,but for the simple negligence of these officials our future??????
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