CHENNAI: Two years after the ban on single-use plastic kicked in across the state, Greater Chennai Corporation is ‘yet again’ intensifying raids by holding meetings with trade associations and threatening to seal shops and cancel trade licences. Last week, it sealed one shop and seized 160kg of plastic carrybags and other banned items.
In contrast, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and other government agencies such as RTOs have done little to stop the manufacture of plastic bags or stop them from entering from other states.
One of the major hurdles in implementing the ban, a corporation official said, was the lack of awareness. “People still do not know what is banned and what isn’t. Two government orders, GO No 84 and GO No 37 were passed. But they continue to sell and buy banned plastic,” he said.
The TNPCB is to stop the manufacture, form committees and ensure there is an ecosystem of alternatives in the state, but it has done precious little in this regard. A TNPCB official told TOI the board had ensured that no companies manufactured the bags and blamed the civic body and the RTOs for the sale in wholesale markets.
The civic body said its role was just to stop it from being sold at wholesale and retail outlets. “We have been conducting raids, issuing notices and doing what we can. We need political will and support to implement it,” said an official.
The plastic ban came into effect on January 1, 2019, and until November 16, 2020, the corporation collected ₹1.31crore in fines after seizing 318 tonnes of banned items after 4.5 lakh raids/inspections. The assembly election early this year and the subsequent second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic halted the raids.
A shop owner in Parry’s said many like him had shifted to alternatives, but, “Until there is demand, we will supply.”
Vamsi Shankar Kapilavai, senior researcher from Citizen Action Group, said people need to get out of the ‘throw away’ culture that began with plastic entering the ecosystem. “We need to change as a society and shift to re-usables,” he said.
