Photo: Prakhar Pandey
In the middle of this year the UK government proposed new taxes, which included one on plastic bags. The opposition Labour Party has accused the government of running out of ideas. The proposal is that, with effect from October 2015, there would be a 5p (pence) levy on the purchase of every plastic carrier bag. This will bring England in line with Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Both manufacturers and users have almost an year’s lead-time before life gets ‘inconvenient. The UK government is of the view that the move will help cut plastic bag use by 76 per cent, thereby leading to a significant reduction in littering and garbage – and also helping save the lives of fish and sea mammals that can get injured by discarded packaging. Supermarkets will be expected to give the enhanced proceeds to charity, under a voluntary code. Smaller businesses, however, will be exempt. Back home we do things differently – and more knee-jerk. Several experiments on the use/ban of plastic have been carried out from time to time, with mixed results. For instance, the hill cities in the north and northeast have met with a reasonable degree of success – one does not find any plastic bags in the State of Sikkim. The rest of the country seems to care less. However, the imposition of a ‘hefty fine’ on users, as a deterrent, had not been tried till now – mainly because it never found favour. The Haryana government is now seeking to do this in Gurgaon. And, true to how we do things, this time the administration has gone quite overboard. The use of polyethylene bags will attract fines from Rs 500 up to a whopping Rs 25,000. Deputy Commissioner Shekhar Vidyarthi has given a week's time to the users, manufacturers and distributors, to get rid of the (to be banned) poly bags. Thereafter, those found stocking, selling or distributing
plastic carry bags would be severely penalised and punished. Almost like the re-running of a movie, shopkeepers are now (again) being educated to voluntarily stop the use of plastic bags, while consumers are (again) being encouraged to use bags made of cloth or jute. In most malls and many other commercial places, poly bags have already been replaced with paper bags. However, the use of plastic bags for the disposal of residential garbage, or for buying veggies and groceries, or in medicine or stationery shops, has not dimmed much.
The damage that plastics can cause to the environment is no secret. The latest drive also addresses these concerns – for example, the impact on the soil, drainage and cattle.
While most citizens of Gurgaon generally accept the spirit behind the ban, a large number is unhappy at the manner in which the government has (once again) rushed into it. Housewives like Sushma Bharti, 70, resident of ‘old’ Gurgaon, say that it is often impractical to carry (empty) bags from home. To them it is convenient, and makes eminent sense, to buy ‘post-packed’ groceries and vegetables from vendors. She does however agree that the use of plastic could be controlled. Importantly also, there is a need to have an easily available, low cost alternative, which can ‘handle’ all sorts of goods. Manufacturers too feel that an alternative viable solution first needs to be in place. And fruit seller Ram Mohan concurs. There are just not enough cloth or jute bags or any other form of environment-friendly replacements available at the moment. "It is a huge fine to pay, and a fine is anyway not the solution. The government must find a way to stop the manufacture of plastic bags; they need to tackle the problem at its roots, for which the time is short, say some shopkeepers. However, raw material intermediaries have a different story to tell. Says one of them, Vinay, “There are two kinds of poly bags, and the government wants to ban only those that are not authorised. The government gets around 10% tax from the big industries like Reliance, which ensure raw material availability for the manufacture of the authorised variety. A complete ban will create unemployment there too. The government needs to rethink and embark on a gradual phase-out plan.” The real problem, according to suppliers, is the widespread availability of low quality poly bags in the market. The sheer volume of usage makes even a few paise per bag very worthwhile, and important enough to encourage vendors to ‘switch to’ or ‘patronise’ low quality bags. Quality is hardly an issue even with the ‘users’. In India the customer believes that she is anyway getting plastic bags free. In fact even manufacturers get swayed by the sheer economics. Nobody thinks of a multiple times use of a plastic bag. All this has led to a synergistic allergy to any ban on plastic bags. With such widespread opposition, the government is bound to always face stiff resistance, feel some businessmen. The solution lies in developing genuine alternatives, they feel. In fact if jute bags are encouraged, at least it would help revive a sunset industry; and jute is one of the most environment friendly fibres, they add. Authorities, naturally, have a different view. They say that it is perhaps inopportune for manufactures and users to crib about the ban. “This is not something unknown or sudden,” an official points out. The ban on plastic is already in place as per the Supreme Court guidelines and the government is merely putting in place a better action plan for its effective implementation. In fact in 2009 itself Haryana had imposed a ban on the use of polythene bags made of virgin or recycled plastic and with a thickness of less than 30 microns. The next year a fine of Rs 500 was instituted, penalising anyone using bags not conforming to the ‘legal’ limits. However, the implementation of the ban has been very patchy. The renewed drive by the new BJP government in Haryana is clearly
an inspiration drawn from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign – and the clarion call was in fact given by Rao Narbir Singh, the local MLA. According to the government’s action plan, teams are being constituted area-wise, and they would be held responsible if any plastic bags are found to be in use in their designated areas. Additional Deputy Commissioner P S Chauhan will be the overall in charge for the urban areas, while the Joint Commissioners, MCG and Estate Officers, HUDA would be in charge of their respective jurisdictions. The authorities will also rope in RWAs and traders' associations for support.
The use of plastic bags is a habit that would be hard to curb, especially since wholesalers here can source from a host of manufacturers in Rewari, Ghaziabad and Delhi. Sumit, a wholesaler, says, “There is a continuing demand from the shopkeepers because the customers want plastic poly bags.” Viraj, the biggest wholesaler of poly bags in ‘old’ Gurgaon, opines, “We focus on poly bags made out of poly seeds, which are not banned. There are several varieties that are ‘authorised’. There is always going to be a big market for these.” He does admit that the demand for jute bags has been growing, especially for the packing of items like rice, daal and certain kinds of spices – and especially for larger quantities. But for smaller quantities of all goods, plastic poly bags score over others, he maintains. “Yes, large malls and grocery shops are switching to paper bags, but the volumes are still not that significant,” he says. The biggest challenge to this problem may be the government itself. In the current set up, when ‘Make in India’ and manufacturing is the buzzword, it would perhaps be impractical and difficult for the government to accept the closure of any manufacturing unit – both due to the employment and the tax factors. There are some parallels here with the tobacco sector. While there is always a clamour to halt the manufacture of tobacco products, because of their severe health hazards, cigarettes continue to be a ‘legal’ product, providing governments much needed benefits of higher tax and employment. The world over, governments have chosen to attack tobacco and cigarette usage through ‘negative’ campaigns and the imposition of stiff taxes – not through bans. They believe that their chosen actions will ensure a gradual and ‘manageable’ drop in usage. Maybe plastic bags would/should go the same route. However, we have chosen to go with a ban. The battle cry has been sounded once again. But with the battle having not even begun, the war may take a long time getting over.
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