Hazardous, plastic bags still in use

Ambika Sharma

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Tribune News Service

Solan, January 17

The government is yet to ban the non-woven plastic bags comprising non-bio-degradable polypropylene which is considered hazardous to environment.

Though the government had banned single use plastic in September, the failure to ban the non-woven plastic is yet to be imposed. Carry bags of non-woven plastic are seen strewn around in plenty in the urban areas and being non-biodegradable in nature their use has become a cause for concern to officials.

The officials presented two reports from the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET), Baddi and Chennai, which stated that non-woven plastic was made of polypropylene which is non-bio-degradable and hence carry bags and other items prepared from them should be banned in the state.

Officials also said since the compostable plastic bags, which have been suggested as an option, took more than 180 days to degrade at temperature ranging from 40 to 50 degree C, allowing their manufacturing would not be environmentally sound.

With options like jute and cloth-made carry bags being available to replace non-woven plastic bags, imposing a ban on these would not affect people.

The officials also said the manufacturers of non-woven plastic bags would also be taken on board and given time to work out an option.

The use of non-woven jute bags has already been prohibited in Chandigarh and its precincts, Delhi and Tamil Nadu as various lab reports indicated that these contain 98.3 per cent polypropylene and would adversely affect the environment.

Secretary, Environment Science and Technology, Rajneesh Kumar said he had directed the officials to seek another report from CIPET within a week where the extent of polypropylene content of the non-woven plastics would be ascertained to decide upon its ban.