Nearly a year of plastics ban: Local manufacture controlled, but Corpn loses battle against misuse

It has been almost one year after the State government implemented the ban on one-time-use plastic items. But the banned items are still available in the markets of the metropolis, defying the actions of the Greater Chennai Corporation.

The most common places where the banned items are still used are Koyambedu Wholesale Market, small hotels, roadside vegetable and fruit shops. The ban on 14 plastic items came into effect on January 1, 2019. A Chennai Corporation source said that even though the manufacturing of banned plastic items is controlled in the State, loads of banned items, especially plastic carry bags are entering Tamil Nadu from States like Gujarat and Odisha. "After we identified the mode of transportation, smugglers resorted to unloading the items outside the city limit and bring them using cars and small load autos," the source added.

When asked vendors the reason for sticking to plastic bags, they said that several customers fail to bring bags and ask for plastic carry bags.

"If you refuse to provide carry bags, they would go to another shop. So we could not avoid plastic bags and give to the customers who do not bring bags. After the ban, some customers bring bags and we encourage them," a vegetable shop owner in Choolaimedu said.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the traders in the city are using duplicate bio-degradable plastic carry bags advertently and inadvertently. The source explained that earlier there were only 12 manufacturing firms in the country that produced bio-degradable plastic carry bags. But now there are as many as 43 firms, which are monitored by the Central Pollution Control Board.

"As per the norms, bio-degradable carry bags should be printed with details including license number and place of manufacture in green ink. Some local manufacturing units produce normal plastic bags and print fake details on it. We cannot seize them as there are no proper guidelines. Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board should take action against the duplicate bio-degradable plastic items," he said. One kilogram of original bio-degradable plastic would cost Rs 650, excluding GST. But one-kilogram duplicate bio-degradable plastic bags cost only Rs 350 to Rs 400.

On the other hand, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had conducted a meeting a few days ago and asked the Greater Chennai Corporation to seize only the 14 banned items as the civic officials tend to seize all the plastic items sometimes. "When we asked TNPCB to take measures to stop the entry of banned plastic items into the city, they did not give a proper reply. They should coordinate with the police to prevent smuggling. We could only raid shops and seize the banned items," an official who participated in the meeting said.

According to a Chennai Corporation data, the civic body has collected more than Rs 1 crore as penalty from shop owners who used the banned items from June to December. Though the State government announced the ban in January, Chennai Corporation and other local bodies collected penalty from June only. From June to December, the civic body collected around 105 tonnes of banned plastic items.

In total, the Chennai Corporation raided more than 3.76 lakh shops in the city and seized more than 311 tonnes of plastic items. In January alone, the officials raided 28,520 shops and seized around 67 tonnes of plastic items, which is the highest in the year. Even though the officials raided more than 22,000 shops in December, they managed to seize only 1.5 tonnes of plastics, suggesting that the usage of plastic has come down since the ban. But, the civic body needs to adopt stricter means to identify the smugglers and illegal users to implement the ban completely.

Apart from the civic body raiding shops and seizing banned plastic items, Market Management Committee in Koyambedu Wholesale Market also been raiding the shops inside the market. Govindarajan, chief administration officer of the market, said that around 6 tonnes of banned plastic items have been seized from the shops and collected Rs 3.74 Lakh from the shop owners. "We are conducting raids frequently," he said.

Another official said that some outsiders are supplying plastic carry bags to traders. "We came to know that they bring banned items in vehicles and supply them. We are taking measures to track them," he added. Meanwhile, traders' body demanded severe action against the violators to curb the plastic usage inside the market.

"Retail vegetables and fruits shop owners use banned plastic items. Officials should take action against the suppliers too," Thiyagarajan, president of Koyambedu Vegetables, Fruits and Flower Traders Welfare Association, said.

The market houses 1,985 vegetable shops, 992 fruit shops, 472 flower shops and 492 food grains shop.

However, on the other side, the plastic ban has rendered more than 1 lakh unemployed. "Of the 1,000 manufacturing units, 500 are closed now. The only products we could manufacture now are medical bags and multilayer plastics. These are comparatively big units that are surviving. But, 90 per cent of micro-units, whose major product was carry bags have been closed down," S Rakkappan, president of Tamil Nadu plastic manufacturers’ association (TAPMA), said.

He added that the industry is expecting the implementation of extended product responsibility as the government would allow plastic usage and mandate recycling. "In some developed countries, plastic items are still used and they are managing the waste well. But, our government bans the plastic without trying to manage the plastic waste," he pointed out.