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Times of India

NEW DELHI: Making it clear that banning the use of plastic bags in certain locations of capital does not prohibit the manufacturer to produce plastic bags, the High Court on Tuesday dismissed the plea of plastic manufacturers challenging the Delhi government’s notification on the ban.
Plastic Bag Ban
Upholding the government notification banning use of plastic bags in specified areas of the capital, a division bench of justice Madan B Lokur and justice A K Pathak observed: “Merely because some commercial interests of the petitioners are diluted does not mean that there is no public interest in issuing the impugned notification. We find no good reason to strike down the notification.”
The All India Plastic Manufacturers’ Association had approached the HC, seeking its direction to quash the notification on the ground that they were not consulted before issuing it and the ban would hamper their business interest.
The counsel for the petitioners had contended that the business of the petitioners had come to a standstill because of the notification and termed it an arbitrary measure, violating their fundamental right to trade and business.
Not agreeing with the petitioners contention, the HC bench noted: “We are unable to understand how this is possible. The manufacturing of plastic bags has not been prohibited by the respondents. At best, the manufacturing activity of the petitioners would have been reduced or their quantum of sales would have decreased but that is not sufficient to invalidate the impugned notification.”
The HC said all that the ban sought to achieve was a prohibition on the use, sale and storage of plastic bags in certain locations within Delhi. Again, it was not as if there was a blanket ban on the use, sale or storage of all kinds of plastic bags, it stated.
“It is clear that the limitation on the sale, use and storage of plastic bags in certain areas in Delhi has been laid down keeping in view the problem of solid waste management, particularly of plastic bags, which choke drains and enter the food chain thereby potentially causing health risks,” the HC bench noted.
The Delhi government, on January 7, had banned the use of plastic bags in shopping malls, five star hotels, restaurants, dairies, fruits and vegetable outlets under the Environment Protection Act. The ban had followed the Delhi High Court’s August 7, 2008 order based on the Justice Chopra committee report.

NEW DELHI: Despite the ban on plastic bags, the festival season has witnessed their return to the market. Since the plastic bags come cheap, shopkeepers are blatantly flouting the rules to maximise profits. While traders say that it is not possible to switch to eco-friendly bags “so soon” as the government has not made cheap alternatives available, the environment department admits that it needs to change its strategy to enforce the ban.
Environment department secretary Dharmendra told ToI that the increase in the usage of plastic bags over the past few days had come to the notice of the department and that it would take more stringent measures to deal with the problem. “The use of plastic bags has increased as it is festival time and more people are going shopping. Since our earlier measures have obviously failed to deliver, we will have to rework our strategy,” he said.
According to sources, Delhi consumes roughly 30% more plastic bags than what other states do. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) started taking action against offenders much later after the ban was announced in January this year. As per RTI responses available with Vinod Jain, director of NGO Tapas, till last week DPCC had filed complaints in 30 cases while MCD had taken action in five cases each at Najafgarh and Karol Bagh. An NDMC official stated that the agency was not taking any action against offenders, but would only carry out an awareness campaign.
Violation of the ban invites five years imprisonment or Rs 1 lakh in fine, but there has been not much progress in conviction rate because of the long and tedious process of filing complaints against offenders. As per the Environment Protection Act, 1986 under which defaulters stand to be prosecuted the complaint against a violator has to be made by the government or by a private person who has given a 60-day notice to the government. While insiders said there was no way that the judicial process could be bypassed, critics said lack of conviction would prove to be the biggest hurdle for enforcing the ban.
Traders, meanwhile, said there was nothing they could do unless the government made cheap alternatives available. Since business has been extremely good at present, shopkeepers have switched over to cheap plastic bags to maximize profits. Sadar Bazaar market association president Narendra Gupta, said: “We have done as much as we could to generate awareness. Complying with the ban will be a slow process. We cannot expect small traders to suddenly start distributing expensive jute and cloth bags.”

The Hindu:

GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat government has imposed a ban on sale and use of gutkha and plastic bags in 10 temple towns and pilgrimage centres with immediate effect.

The Thaindian News

Shimla, Aug 16 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh is set to impose a total ban on the use of plastic bags from Oct 2, state Environment Minister J.P. Nadda said Sunday.
“From Oct 2, there would a complete ban on the production, storage, use, sale and distribution of all types of polythene bags made of non-biodegradable materials. But the ban will not include those bags used for packing food items like milk and cereals,” Nadda told IANS.
Ban on Plastic Bags - A good move
The government is also planning to include all plastic materials like disposable plates, cups and glasses in the ambit of the ban, he said.
The ban on use of coloured polythene bags manufactured from recycled plastic was initially imposed Jan 1, 1999. Later in 2004, the ban was imposed under Section 7(h) of the State Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Rules on the use of small polythene bags having thickness less than 70 microns and size less than 18″x12″.
“Now there is total ban on the use of polythene bags of all types and sizes,” Nadda added.
Before the partial implementation of the ban in 2004, polythene pollution was a major problem in the state. During the monsoon, the rainwater brought along heaps of polythene bags and other non-biodegradable material that choked most of the municipal drains.
Under the Himachal Pradesh Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Act of 1995, any violator would face a fine up to Rs.25,000. The minimum fine has been fixed at Rs.500.
R.K. Sood, joint member-secretary of the Himachal State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, said: “After imposing the ban in 2004, plastic pollution has come down dramatically.”
Nadda said the government is now exploring the option of promoting paper and jute bags in the state.
“We are exploring the option of promoting paper and jute bags in a big way. Special sensitisation drives would be launched in the state to educate the common man about the ecological hazards and about which type of carry bags are environment-friendly. The tourists would be provided jute bags at various entry points in the state,” he said.
The state would soon have its environmental master plan to tackle critical areas of environmental degradation.
“The master plan will include a baseline study of the environmental vulnerabilities and details of measures to tackle problems mainly related to urban solid waste, industrial pollution and ecological degradation caused by hydropower projects,” the minister said.