Even as the health authorities of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) are keeping a close watch on shops and business establishments to enforce the ban on plastic bags, people here have leisurely started getting into the mood of switching over to possible alternatives — cloth bags — to get used to the new way of life without plastic.
However, a few shopkeepers in residential localities continue to provide plastic carry bags to their customers.
Sources said the MCC will soon start imposing fines in a big way against the use of plastic bags since some “grace period” had been given to get used to ban.
Mayor B.L. Bhyrappa told The Hindu on Saturday that malls and supermarkets had discontinued the use of plastic bags and switched over to cloth or jute bags. “I admit plastic bags are still being used in the market. But it will slowly disappear once we start imposing fines with strict vigil,” he said.
The Mayor refuted claims by some business establishments here that plastic bags of higher thickness — 50 to 55 micron thickness — would hit the market and such bags would be exempted from the ban.
“There is a blanket ban on plastic bags irrespective of their thickness. It is untrue that bags of higher thickness would be permitted. Either the shops have to switch over to paper or cloth bags or ask their customers to bring bags from their homes. There is no other alternative,” he added.
The MCC had recently distributed over 15 types of posters on the plastic ban for distribution among shopkeepers and business establishments.
“Despite the ban, people continue to use old plastic bags. But some have started bringing cloth bags from their homes as we have stopped giving carry bags,” said a salesman at a grocery outlet in Ramakrishnanagar I Block.
Ramesh, a resident, said, “Plastic bags have been a part of our lives all these years. It may be difficult to suddenly change … but the ban is good for various reasons,” he added.
The plastic used for packaging milk and other dairy products is exempted from the ban.
Also, carry bags used in packaging of goods that are sealed right at the manufacturing and processing units are permitted.
Until now, use of plastic bags thinner than 40 microns was banned. But as per the new rule, there is a total ban on plastic carry bags irrespective of their thickness.
All urban local bodies and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) have been directed by the government to strictly enforce the ban.
