Minister for Environment K. C. Karuppannan on Wednesday said that the government was considering the possibility of exempting paper cups from the plastic ban to be effected from January 1.
Addressing a regional-level coordinators meeting at the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board head office here, he said that since the cups had just 6% plastic content by way of a coating, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami was considering the representations made by various associations to exempt them.
The Minister said that a request to exempt non-woven bags with bamboo handles, used by textile shops (called kattapai in popular parlance), was also under consideration since these bags could be reused. He also added that the State government was encouraging companies to set up units to generate power from garbage.
Minister for Fisheries D. Jayakumar, who spoke about the dangers of plastic pollution in the oceans, said that in many cases of whale and shark deaths, plastics had been found inside the carcasses. “Microplastics have been found inside fish and and even humans. We need to take drastic steps to reduce pollution,” he added.
Rationale questioned
Representatives of plastic manufacturers associations including G. Sankaran and B. Swaminathan have questioned the rationale behind the proposed exemption. “The same logic would apply to several other banned items. In the same breath, the government can order an increase in the thickness of shopping bags so that they can be reused,” Mr. Sankaran said. “What is applicable to paper cups can be applied for all banned items from the perspective of hygiene,” Mr. Swaminathan added.
