A university canteen where plastic glasses have given way to paper ones; a majority of customers bringing cloth bags to a local vegetable market; a garden where people are standing outside and eating their ‘namkeen’ in plastic packets before entering — these are scenes from different parts of Delhi where single-use plastic (SUP) has been banned. There is another thread that connects them all: the demand for viable alternatives.
The Hindu visited Jamia Millia Islamia in south Delhi, the vegetable market of Tagore Garden, Dilli Haat at INA and Garden of Five Senses in South Delhi, where the SUP ban has been imposed in varying degrees by different authorities.
Interestingly, almost all of the two dozen people interviewed, from daily wage workers to academics said that plastic should be banned, for reasons varying from the protection of cows to preventing urban flooding.
Despite the demand for alternatives, people and traders were adapting to the changing scenario. Experts said that the government should work on alternatives as the current ones are expensive and not affordable for people from low-income groups.
Tagore Garden market
On an October afternoon, as Rajat Gupta, 50, a vegetable seller, handed over onions in a brown paper bag to a customer, the thin bag broke and the onions fell on the ground and rolled off.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on September 23 had declared Tagore Garden’s fruit and vegetable market “plastic-free” and the vendors in the market are not allowed to use plastic bags. None of the 15-odd shops in the market were found handing customers’ items in plastic bags. Multiple vendors said that about 50% customers were now bringing their own cloth bags, but there are implementation problems.
Showing a white non-woven bag, Gupta said, “There are many problems. I got these bags instead of plastic ones, but the officials are now saying that we cannot use this as they also contain plastic.”
He said he charges ₹20 for a cloth bag, but few people buy them. The bags Gupta showed, which is commonly used as an alternative for plastic bags, though resembling cloth bags, is made of polypropylene.
“Consumers mistake it for an alternative to plastic, but it is made from polypropylene. It is non-recyclable and should be banned,” said Swati Singh Sambyal, programme manager at Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi.
A vegetable vendor uses a cloth bag after a ban on plastic bag in Tagore Garden vegetable market.
Loan a bag
Balbir Singh, 55, a resident of Vishnu Garden, was on his way back after giving his car for servicing when he saw the market and remembered that he had to buy vegetables. But there was one problem: he did not have a cloth bag with him. “When I told the shopkeeper that I don’t have a bag, he said that I can take a cloth bag for ₹20 and when I return it, he will give me the money back,” Mr. Singh said.
The shopkeeper, Vinod Kumar, 31, from Bihar, was selling two alternatives for plastic bags, a large cloth bag for ₹40 and a smaller one for ₹15. But if someone shows up without a bag, Kumar loans them the bags for ₹50 and ₹20.
“I sell about 20 of these bags in a day and about 10 of them come back,” he said.
The shopkeepers said that the government had distributed free cloth bags for just two days to customers when the ban started and said that such initiatives should continue.
“We had distributed bags sponsored by local businessmen for free, but do not plan to distribute more. We have helped the vendors procure bags at a cheap rate,” said Rajiv Jain, superintending engineer of SDMC.
The market is not free of plastic as some customers are still coming with plastic bags. The SDMC has declared eight such markets as “plastic-free”.
Cloth bags for ₹2
Meanwhile, the North Delhi Municipal Council has opened ‘Saksham Eco Mart’ at Kautilya Marg, where cloth bags are sold for as low as ₹5. “Also, if you give your old clothes at the outlet, our workers will stitch cloth bags for you at ₹2-3,” said R.P. Gupta, Director (Education) of North DMC.
The outlet near Chanakyapuri police station also sells kulhad (earthenware) and will soon have alternatives for plastic cutlery at lower than market prices.
Jamia Millia Islamia
From October 2, the university has banned single-use plastic items such as bottles, cups, glasses, polythene bags, plastic cutlery, straws, and items made from styrofoam among others and imposed a fine of ₹500 on violators. At the canteen, plastic cups have been replaced by paper cups and no one was found using plastic bags. But students were found using plastic bottles and it was available in the canteen too.
Students said they support the ban. Asif Raham, an engineering student at JMI, said, “We don‘t have much plastic pollution here in Jamia. It is good that the ban has been imposed finally. Plastic contains chemicals that can cause cancer.”
But not everyone is happy. Thirty-two-year old Mohammad Faraz Khan, owner of Castro Canteen, said that he immediately threw all his older stock of single-use plastics like straw and glasses when the university administration announced the ban on plastic items. “We faced the brunt of this decision as we had a huge stock of single-use plastic glasses, spoons and straws. I dumped the whole stock,” said Mr. Khan.
“They didn’t provide alternatives. We are arranging on our own. We now have to think of alternatives but they will be costlier. This sudden ban will create a new industry for paper and jute, but it will take time to produce huge quantities of glasses and straws. There should have been proper planning. It doesn’t work like this, where you wake up and realise that a ban has been imposed on a certain product,” he said. “It takes time to find alternatives and strike new deals,” he added.
Another canteen owner, on the condition of anonymity, said that plastic still exists on campus. “The ban is only on bottles below 200 ml. Water bottles and soft drinks above 200 ml can be used and sold to students and the staff.” Also, plastic packaging materials were found lying around in at least three canteens.
Other places
On October 2, the Delhi government had banned single-use plastic at all three Dilli Haats and the Garden of Five Senses in Saket. At the Dilli Haat and Garden of Five Senses, people were not allowed to carry even chips or biscuits that came in plastic wrappers, but they were not provided paper bags to carry them.
Though at the Dilli Haats there was a cupboard which doubled up as a ‘cloak room’ in which visitors could leave their plastic water bottles, there was no such facility at the garden — people were allowed to carry water bottles by October 2 afternoon as there were no alternatives.
Ready for the ban?
“The bans in Delhi are a welcome step, but we are not at the stage for a countrywide ban. We need to do a lot of homework before it,” said Ms. Sambyal.
“First, we need to have a clear definition for SUP, things that are found at dump sites, drains and that create problems. And then we have to create a plan to phase them out,” she added.
She said that there are currently no viable alternatives for some SUP. “We can clearly get rid of styrofoam and plastic cutlery, but there is no viable alternative for plastic packaging material.”
The expert also stressed on the need for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
“Producers should be held responsible for picking up and management of plastic waste. Currently we don’t have a proper EPR for plastic. EPR guidelines are needed.”
Meanwhile, the Delhi government is in the process of notifying bylaws under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. These entail fines for not disposing of SUP properly, but there’s no ban on them, officials said.
