Times of India – 26 July 2012
Only plastic ban won't do, experts seek law to stop
littering
KOLKATA: "Two rams choked on plastic bags and died
while grazing on the Maidan a couple of days back," said Mrityunjoy
Sarkar, an animal activist who runs an animal rehab centre at his Watgunge
house. "I saw them dying after a convulsion during my regular morning
walk. I spoke to the shepherd boy who said this was not the first time this had
happened to his sheep. But these deaths never get registered. If they did, we
would have had a horror story. Just by banning plastic bags below 40 microns in
thickness, the authorities are making it just another bureaucratic affair,
without any purpose or zeal," added Sarkar.
A senior state pollution control board scientist echoed
Sarkar. "The plastic is getting us really choked and such days are not far
away when life will come to a standstill because of our callous habit of
littering plastic. Unfortunately, there has been no campaign against
plastic-littering."
A TOI survey revealed that plastic littering is all
pervasive. No road, no ground and no waterbody - including Lal Dighi in front
of Writers' Buildings, perhaps the most well-kept waterbody of the city, and
those at Victoria Memorial - has been able to escape the menace.
The Kolkata
Municipal Corporation (KMC) is only enforcing a ban on the use of plastic
bags below 40 microns in thickness. "But who will prevent plastic tea-cups, gutka or shampoo sachets which are worse polluters? They
easily slip through manholes or the concrete filters of the underground
drainage system. These elements are no less chokers for drainage pumping
sets," said a Kolkata
Metropolitan Development Authority officer.
Interestingly, however, the Supreme Court has banned the packaging
of gutka in plastic sachets. Following the Supreme Court order, the environment
ministry had also banned the packaging of gutka products in sachets (Rule 5 of
the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, prohibits the use of
plastic materials in sachets for storing, packaging or selling gutka, tobacco
and pan masala). But the plastic sachets containing tobacco are everywhere in
the city and there is no compliance of the central rule.
State environment secretary RPS Kahlon said: "We do
not have any legal provision against plastic littering. But eventually, we have
to enact a law so that an offender does not get away by throwing plastic bags
and sachets. Spot-fines could be introduced to penalize offenders." He
admitted that littering is worrisome in the state as it is in other parts of
the country. Kahlon said that PCB is suffering from a severe man-power
shortage. It is a matter to be handled by municipal bodies, he added.
"I found the mere ban on plastic bags below 40
micron thickness is somewhat untenable. Who will measure whether a particular
bag is below 40 micron or not? The city has become a paradise for littering
plastic wastes. There is no dearth of rules in our country. Only its effective
enforcement can inculcates a habit of proper disposal of plastic waste.
Littering is an offence in most of the developed countries, where penalty comes
in the form of hefty fines or sustained community services or both by state
statutes or city ordinances," said environment activist Subhas Datta.
In India, Meghalaya is stringent against littering. The
Goa government is becoming an exception by making littering of plastic at
roadsides and beaches a cognizable offence. Chief minister Manohar
Parrikar himself announced it. Parrikar told the legislative assembly that
the government is mulling to make plastic littering a cognizable offence by
December this year and to punish the offender with a severe penalty.
As early as in August, 2002, the government prohibited
carrying, use and sale of non-biodegradable PET bottles and plastic carry bags
in certain coastal regulation zones in Panaji and neighboring Caranzalem and
Dona Paula, while for other beach areas in Goa, the matter would be taken up in
consultation with all stakeholders.
Even Indian
Plastic Federation officials want stringent enforcement against littering.
"Plastic is so popular because of its utilitarian value. If it is disposed
of properly, plastic will continue to do good for mankind. But because of its
low-cost
existence in our life we tend to throw them away, without understanding its
consequences. If this continues, the authority will be forced to ban plastic which
will turn a huge workforce jobless," said an IPF official. In fact, the
Supreme Court threatened to enforce a complete ban on the use of plastic in the
interests of animals and the environment.
In no country in the world is it possible to collect all the plastic waste. Some of it will always escape accidentally or deliberately into the environment where it could lie or float around for decades. Oxo-biodegradable plastics (“oxo-bio”) are intended as low-cost insurance against this form of pollution, but degradability is not intended as a disposal route.
ReplyDeleteAs we will never succeed in collecting all the plastic waste and some may remain to disfigure the landscape. Where this goes uncollected it can accumulate in the environment, polluting the land and the oceans for many decades, and perhaps for hundreds of years. The only solution for saving environment against plastic waste is by replacing our old fashioned plastic by oxo-biodegradable plastic as it biodegrades in open in the same way as a leaf.If collected it can also be recycled.
d2w oxo-biodegradable plastic (so called because
it degrades initially by oxidation) is supplied by a British company
called Symphony Environmental.The fundamental point is that the d2w
additive included at manufacture causes ordinary plastic to convert
after its useful life by an abiotic process in the presence of oxygen
into a material with a different molecular structure. It is not necessary
for the plastic to be in moist or microbially-active conditions.
At the end of that process it is no longer a plastic and has become a
material which is inherently biodegradable in the same way as a leaf,
but if collected during its useful life it can be recycled . After
degradation the plastic can no longer be seen, and it cannot block
drains or entangle wildlife.
During the intermediate phase of degradation in case of
oxo-biodegradable plastics fragments are created but the molecular
weight of the fragments get smaller and smaller until there is nothing
left except naturally-occurring materials such as hydro-peroxides,
which are rapidly scavenged by micro-organisms. Using the test methods
prescribed by BS 8472, American Standard D6954-04 and EN 13432 it has
been shown that oxo-bio is not eco-toxic. Please refer to the briefing
note at :
http://www.biodeg.org/files/uploaded/biodeg/briefing_notes/Briefing_Note_OPA_23%20Nov%202011(6)(1).pdf
Timescales for degradation can be set at manufacture as required, but
they must necessarily be approximate. For a video of plastic film
degrading, visit: http://degradable.net/play-videos/4
Symphony is now supplying d2w through 67 Distributors covering 92
countries worldwide, including India. Although Symphony is a British
company, the d2w is added to normal plastic by local factories in
India so there will be no loss of jobs.
The environmental credentials of d2w plastic have recently
beenverified by the international consultancy Intertek. See
http://www.biodeg.org/files/uploaded/Intertek_Final_Report_15.5.12(9).pdf
In conclusion, if we combine the use of d2w plastic with the three
R’s of ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’, we can all help win the war
against plastic waste for the lasting benefit of future generations.