Page 7 - Plastics News March 2018

THE PRESIDENT
THE PRESIDENT SAYS SAYS

Ban on Plastics is unfortunate

he Maharashtra Government has decided to ban use of Plastic with effect from
T"Gudi Padva", the Maharashtrian New Year which falls on March 18, 2018 which is very
unfortunate and we all at AIPMA are quite disappointed and working for the betterment.
Ban is a solution in search of new set of issues arising out of compromise on consumer

convenience, food safety and health safety. As a most efficient material at construction,
plastic has replaced most of the alternative materials which are now being reconsidered
for use as substitute. Unfortunately inspite of common perception, Environment Impact
Assessment of such alternatives indicated that their use can lead to much deeper impact
on the environment.

Plastics in fact serves, it is littering that pollutes and hence the focus ought to be on
addressing the later. For this purpose MoEF has enacted Plastic Waste Management Rules HITEN BHEDA
2016 which addresses and stipulates measures for all stakeholders of the value chain. If
implemented properly, the very objective of clean environment can be achieved making
Ban redundant.

The economic fallout of such a ban could be alarming, large capital investment can turn
to NPA’s and huge number of workers will lose their jobs. It is to be noted that the ban
can affect working of many business activities which rely on plastics for their packaging
requirement and for whom other alternatives are just not feasible or economically viable.

The Government is yet to come up with notification specifying details and scope of the ban
which has created panic in the processing industry. We are hopeful that Government will
not act in haste and rethink on the policy to address the real issue and not make plastic
processing industry a scapegoat.

During this turbulent time, we look forward to everyone’s support.

Hiten Bheda
president@aipma.net

7 March 2018 Plastics News