Page 9 - Plastics News November 2017

FROM THE EDITOR'S PEN

What is that the Government wants to achieve by the Ban..

he Maharashtra government announced a plan on Thursday November 16, 2017 to ban
Tplastic-bag and plastic bottles from GudiPadwa next year. According to the Hon’ble Minister
Ramdas Kadam the state government will ban plastic bags and plastic bottles from government
premises, schools, colleges, mass functions and hotels from GudiPadwa 2018 and subsequently
extend it to private offices.
Is this a thoughtful decision ? Most of the people across the state use Plastic water bottles while
travelling from home to office, likewise students also carry Plastic water bottle in schools /
college. With the ban what are they suppose to carry ? While the government wants to reduce
the weight of school bags on one hand, by having Glass water bottles it will add to the weight
of the school bags.

Lack of clean water could also be a major concern leading to water-borne disease. Needless
to say glass is fragile and might break while travelling thereby likely to cause injury. On a
serious note Glass Bottles can become a handy tool with people in case of quarrels happening
in public space.
Also talking about the bag that includes Milk Pouches as well, what are the alternatives ? If
the lightweight Milk pouches are to be replaced by Glass it will add to further problems. Not
only it is heavier and fragile there is an increased risk of wastage as well.
As it happened in earlier years the milk bottles (then in Red and Blue labels) need to be returned Mr. Rajiv B.Tolat
to dairy for cleaning thereby increasing the cost of transportation. Also to maintain hygiene
Glass bottles needs to be washed minimum four times to be refilled. Imagine the amount of
water we would be wasting on it and given the fact Maharashtra has been drought prone area
is this an advisable proposition?
Plastic packaging helps conserve food and keep it fresh for days. Do we have an alternative to
help conserve food? The Government has said it in record not to use paper for food packaging
as it has leaching effect. We all know Paper pack sinks in as well and compromises on nutrient
value. How are we going to deal with wet or say liquid packaging? Are we planning to move
to the Stone Age era!
The Government needs to have a system to implement the Plastics Waste Management Rules
2016 and take simple and effective action like say confiscate lightweight carry bags from the
roadside vendor who pass it on to consumer leading to litter. Such action will help in vendors
avoiding to purchase lightweight bags from supplier thus reducing the Demand & Supply chain
of these bags..

Why can’t we understand Ban is not the solution and serves no purpose? Given the modern
day life one starts the day with Plastics, right from your toothbrush to toilets, Cars to Cell
phone, FMCG all have it in them. Even for the fact one needs Plastics to unzip their pants!!
Our daily needs like Milk Pouches, Bread confectioneries , Dust bin bags the list is unending..
Moreover using Glass and Paper will not only add to additional cost for every products it will
have the impact on environment as well. Imagine the number of trees needs to be cut for
paper and the amount of energy spent on cleaning glass. This will further add to Carbon foot
print as well. Are we ready for all this?
The government needs to realize that this not a logical step. There needs to some deliberate
thinking process else the whole market –economy matrix would go for toss!!

Hon. Editor
Mr. Rajiv B.Tolat

9 N ovember 2017 Plastics News