AMC plans awareness campaign against plastic carry bags

Carry bag makers losing business as crackdown begins

As the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) starts crack-down on plastic carry bags below 40 micron thickness, the plastic industry association along with the civic body are planning large scale campaign to raise awareness. The carry bag makers, on the other hand, are losing demand in the short term.

Gujarat implemented the ban on plastic carry bags below 40 micron from April this year, following a Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) notification on plastic waste management rules 2011 in February. The state has been slow in implementation of the MoEF norm. Most states had already implemented a ban after the environment ministry issued a draft notification in September 2009. As a result, the state-based plastic carry bag makers were not prepared for the cap on thickness of carry bags.

A city-based carry bag maker said, "Most of our buyers are either vegetable and fruit vendors or medicine shops, who usually prefer 20 micron thickness bags. The reason is simple, a 40 micron bag costs around Rs 3 compared to a 15-20 micron bag which costs around 50 to 75 paise. In the short term at least, there will be dip in demand."

The Gujarat Plastic Manufacturers Association (GSPMA), however, said that while it is important to implement the ban following government orders, awareness levels need to be raised. "We have sent mailers to all our members already asking them to stay away from manufacturing the banned variety of carry bags. It will take some time before everyone stops making them,"said Mahavir Khatang, president GSPMA. He admitted that there is indeed a dip in demand faced by carry bag makers at the moment, and hence smaller units have also resorted to job cuts.

The AMC, which has so far collected around 3.3 tonnes of plastic bags in various crack down initiatives, is also working on a large scale campaign to raise awareness. "We were already working on several initiatives on solid waste management. Close to Rs 120 crore have been spent on various schemes like household-to-dump via agencies, creating a new landfill site etc. Some of these initiatives have been funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)," said a senior official at AMC.

AMC is now embarking on a multi-media campaign spanning public events, competitions, street plays, billboards, banners, radio to spread awareness. GSPMA is also working on similar awareness drives at schools, colleges and other institutions. The civic body has also employed agencies to collect waste from households in a segregated manner. So, paper and plastic wastes will go to recycling companies, organic waste to manure manufacturing firms, garbage products to power plants etc. Atul Kanuga, chairman, Ahmedabad chapter of Indian Plastics Institute (IPI) said, "The corporation is also in talks with several mega-retail outlets to either stop giving plastic carry bags or charge consumers for it. Basically, what AMC is trying to implement is to bring back the use of cloth and paper bags. Consumers would carry their own cloth bags to stores like earlier times," he adds.