Plastic bag makers want to produce them to sell outside city

Appearing for All India Plastic Industries Association (AIPIA), advocate Arvind Nigam submitted to the bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw that the existing environmental law does not prohibit manufacture of plastic bags but only bans their use.

The AIPIA had moved the high court challenging the Delhi government's October 23 notification imposing a blanket ban on plastic from November 23, under which no person can produce, import, store, sell or transport any kind of plastic bag in the city.

The manufacturers told the court that the problem does not lie with production of the plastic bags but with the civic agencies, which do not recycle them.

"The municipal authorities are not discharging their duty, if they would have been doing their duty, the ban would not be needed," said the lawyer adding "we are ready to do the job of MCD to recycle the plastic bags less than 40 microns."

The lawyer also argued that even the plastic bags used for packed food caused environmental problem and heath hazard but the government did not ban it, while showing packed food packets to the court.

"If government did not ban the plastic bags used for packing food products like milk, flour bags etc, why did it ban the carry bags?," the counsel argued.

From November 23, the use of all kinds of plastic bags have been banned. The ban, however, excludes the use of plastic specified under the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules. (More)