Blanket ban on Plastic puts businessmen into dilemma

A blanket ban on plastic in Karnataka has left businessman both big and small in a dilemma on how to deliver the or hand over the goods purchased to the consumers.

Hoteliers are worried on how to deliver food without disposable containers. Textile merchants are worried who to hand over the goods purchased such as shirts or blankets with carry bags.

In some shops the authorities were seen saying goods cannot be even packed or stacked in plastic which is a cause of concern as all goods are manufactured and packed in some or the other kind of plastic.

The counter argument is that usage of eco friendly products like cardboard would lead to deforestation, which is more harmful than the use of plastic.

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar replaced the existing five-year-old plastic waste management rules with new ones which would be enforced within six months in India.

Local bodies would collect registration fees from manufacturers or traders to make plastic bags below 50 microns available to them. The registration amount collected would be used to manage plastic waste.

Cloth merchant Girish Potdar speaking to AAB said, “It is practically impossible to shift to cloth bags as they are very costly and paper bags wont be able to carry huge weight.”

Hotelier Kiran Nippanikar said, “It is getting very difficult to deliver food as take aways with no use of Plastic container how are we supposed to pack the food.”

Forest, Environment and Ecology Department Additional Chief Secretary T M Vijayabhaskar said the bags, which resemble cloth contain “non-woven polypropylene, have been banned by the state government along with plastic carry bags.

Businessmen are looking out for options but will they be feasible from the business point of view is also important as one cloth bag or paper bag will cost anything around Rs.15-30.
Questions are also being raised on to what extent the ban is practical and how effectively it can be enforced, considering it includes products used on a daily basis.