“The consumption of plastics in the state stood at 10 lakh tonnes per year earlier. Sankaran, president, Tamil Nadu-Pondicherry Plastics Manufacturers Association.” Biodegradable plastics cost `450 per kilogram whereas the normal plastic costs `100. Clearly, this is not the case.”One kilogram of single-use plastic, which was earlier priced at `100, is now reportedly being sold at `150 by some. He points out that this is currently not being followed in the state.Another reason this ban might not have had the desired impact is the high price of the alternatives. . In the far left corner is the takeaway counter and on its shelves lie a hundred plastic cups and boxes, neatly stacked one on top of another.Writer-activist Nityanand Jayaram also believes that China wooden fiber cutting board Factory plastic products are back in circulation, courtesy lax implementation and enforcement of the ban.
Notably, when the ban was first introduced, the government had announced its decision to support women’s co-operatives, entrepreneurial ventures and start-ups working on plastic replacements.”According to the Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 2019 penalties for ‘storage, supply, transport, sale and distribution of use-and-throw plastics’ was fixed at `25,000, 50,000 and 1,00,000 for first, second and third-time offences respectively. While he admits that there are a few cases of lacunae, the ban has largely been successful, he says. In a laudable move, the government had released a descriptive list of 12 eco-friendly alternatives to plastic, including cloth bags, glass containers, paper plates and cups, banana leaves and areca nut plates at the time of the ban.Several MNCs still sell their products wrapped in SUPs and the government is doing nothing about it. Ms Deepthi, a teacher and resident of Mylapore, says that though the public is aware of the ill-effects of plastic usage, the prices of cloth bags and other substitutes prompt them to buy plastic, which comes at a relatively lower cost.
Nityanand alleges that these plans too have not been pursued.CHENNAI: It’s eight am on a Tuesday morning and this popular restaurant at Adyar is already abuzz with activity as a long queue forms for tables and waiters run around taking and delivering orders. Though the production of plastics by licensed manufacturers has considerably gone down, he says, banned plastic is still being produced extensively by unwarranted manufactures.”If the ban had been effective, we should have seen an alternate economy (built on plastic alternatives) thriving. And nearly over eight months since the Tamil Nadu Government announced a blanket ban on non-biodegradable and single-use plastics (SUP), plastic commodities are slowly making a comeback in the city — this time, however, sourced from the neighbouring states and some elusive dealers. Now tell me, which one will the public purchase?” he asks.However, G. Reportedly, tons of plastic is transported every day from other states and fake products dubbed as ’recyclable’ plastic is also in circulation. The government has also not announced plans so far to create an alternative livelihood for those affected by the ban,” he alleges.
The Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules 2016 mandates MNCs to collect back the plastic waste being generated by their brand items, by themselves or assign some party to do so. Bio-degradable plastics or green plastic is also not a solution, he asserts.The present ban has not only crippled the livelihood of thousands of workers but has also created a thriving market for numerous illegal dealers, alleges G. “We have seized over 300 tonnes of plastic until now and `75 lakh to `80 lakh fine has been collected. Prakash, commissioner, Greater Chennai Corporation, tells us a different story. There has been no remarkable change in this number,” he claims. He notes that though the ban was in effect for the first few months, the failure on the civic body’s part to conduct regular spot checks has resulted in plastic commodities slowly creeping back into the market
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