No check on easy availability of single-use plastic despite ban

Tribune News Service

Shivani Bhakoo

Ludhiana, April 17

Single-use plastic continues to be used openly by residents despite the government banning it in July last year. The easy availability of plastic carry bags with shopkeepers and vendors has led to the continuing use of the banned item. At the same time, plastic manufacturers decry the ban which has rendered several people in the manufacturing sector jobless.

Geeta, who was carrying fruits and vegetables in plastic carry bags on National Road, Ghumar Mandi, said vendors provide food items only in these bags.

“We know that they have been banned but shopkeepers and vendors continue to use them and provide articles in them. They should be stopped from doing so. It is certainly not possible to carry things in my hand. We are forced to use plastic carry bags as no alternative has been provided,” she said.

Another resident said plastic items were not only easily available, shopkeepers had also started ‘exploiting’ them while selling these bags.

“The other day, I went to buy garbage bags. The shopkeeper sold me 50 bags for Rs 130, which were earlier sold Rs 90. When I came back home and counted them, only 38 bags were there. If there is a ban on single-use plastic, the government should keep a proper check on their availability and also provide us with a substitute,” said Jasleen, a homemaker.

It is a common observation that while giving products in these bags, shopkeepers or vendors do not think twice about being caught.

“No one has come to check our stocks so far. We keep carry bags here in small quantities and get them from godowns on a daily basis,” said a salesman at a karyana shop in Ghumar Mandi.

Plastic manufacturers, on the other hand, term the ban on the manufacture of single-use plastic a case of ‘step-motherly’ treatment to the industry.

“Are banned plastic items not being sold openly? Has the government been able to stop their use? If no, why is it hell bent on destroying our livelihoods by forcing us to shut the units? Is there any rationale on the ban on plastic manufacturing if its use can’t be stopped?” asked Rajiv Jain, who had a plastic-manufacturing unit in the city.

‘No rationale for ban on manufacture’

Plastic manufacturers have termed the ban on manufacture of single-use plastic a ‘step-motherly’ treatment to the industry. “Are banned plastic items not being sold openly? Has the government been able to stop their use? If no, why is it hell bent on destroying our livelihoods by forcing us to shut the units? Is there any rationale on the ban on plastic manufacturing if its use can’t be stopped?” asked Rajiv Jain, who once owned a plastic-manufacturing unit in the city.

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