Time to think out of the box Of single use plastics
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Single use plastic carry bag is here to stay and the Government will have to think out of the box and study how to deal with the plastic menace. The answer obviously is regulation, work out some mechanisms through which its sale and usage can be regulated to a certain extent. At the moment it is a free for all and in all the years it is mind boggling to think that the Government has not bothered to study the reality deeper and explore what steps ought to be taken up. Everytime the sky opens up and artificial floods submerge long stretches of roads, block the free flow of water, when khongbans and nullahs overflow and flood the neighbourhood, the menace of single use plastic carry bags is felt acutely. Once the rain stops and the roads and localities are no longer flooded, it is back to square one and the khongbans in every leirak and leikai are decorated with plastic wastes, notably plastic carry bags. And plastic carry bags are the main reasons for clogging the nullahs and khongbans. Everyone knows this but this has not stopped the people from using the extremely convenient plastic carry bags in whatever way one can. The first step is obviously the need for the people to develop a certain degree of civic sense, a sense that says that throwing plastic wastes inside the nullahs and khongbans will lead to nothing but flooded roads and localities. It does not work up a sweat to keep the plastic wastes, particularly the used plastic carry bags, in a container and dispose it of when the leikai waste trucks come to collect the wastes generated by each family in a locality. The wastes collecting truck may come once a week or twice a month, but this does not mean that the people cannot keep the plastic wastes carefully in a bin or a sack or whatever may be handy until the waste collecting truck comes in the next round. Not unusual it is to see people discarding the used plastic carry bags, the used plastic bottles inside the leikai khongbans. As stated on more than one occasion, the leikai clubs and organisations may be taken into confidence to impose a fine or two on anyone found littering the khongbans and nullahs in the said locality. Such a step can go some way in checking the disposal of plastic wastes anywhere that comes under the understanding of public spaces. Something has to give and the Government should lead from the front in keeping the plastic pollution in check. And to do this it has to think beyond the ban imposed on the use of plastic carry bags of a certain micron and see how the use and disposal of such items may be regulated. Not clear if such an approach has ever been tried earlier, but time this is done and given the publicity it needs.
It was obviously to sensitise the young students that a powerpoint presentation competition on the theme ‘Say no to single use plastic’ was held at the office premises of the Zonal Education Officer, Zone II, Imphal East on November 25. Such workshops and exercises to sensitise the young children are needed, but the Government will need to look beyond. And to look beyond, the reality should first be acknow- ledged. The convenience that a single use plastic carry bag offers is immense. A kilo of dressed fish, dressed chicken, pork, mutton, anything that can soil a cloth bag can be conveniently and neatly carried in a plastic carry bag. Likewise there is nothing more convenient than to get one kilogramme or two of the potato or tomato packed in a plastic carry bag. And to shop one need not necessarily be out to do the day’s shopping for it could be a case of seeing something that one likes and stopping the car or two wheeler at the desig- nated parking lot and buying the things that one needs or likes. In such cases, it is the plastic carry bags that are used. The best step forward for the Government would then be to discourage the reliance on plastic carry bags and the most important thing to do here is to put a price on the plastic carry bags. Let the buyer fork out Rs 10 or 15 more if the kilo of chicken or pork or fish is going to come with a plastic carry bag. In short let the buyer pay more if a plastic carry bag is to be used. This can go some way in checking the use of plastic carry bags. The PR administration need to seriously study this approach.
It was obviously to sensitise the young students that a powerpoint presentation competition on the theme ‘Say no to single use plastic’ was held at the office premises of the Zonal Education Officer, Zone II, Imphal East on November 25. Such workshops and exercises to sensitise the young children are needed, but the Government will need to look beyond. And to look beyond, the reality should first be acknow- ledged. The convenience that a single use plastic carry bag offers is immense. A kilo of dressed fish, dressed chicken, pork, mutton, anything that can soil a cloth bag can be conveniently and neatly carried in a plastic carry bag. Likewise there is nothing more convenient than to get one kilogramme or two of the potato or tomato packed in a plastic carry bag. And to shop one need not necessarily be out to do the day’s shopping for it could be a case of seeing something that one likes and stopping the car or two wheeler at the desig- nated parking lot and buying the things that one needs or likes. In such cases, it is the plastic carry bags that are used. The best step forward for the Government would then be to discourage the reliance on plastic carry bags and the most important thing to do here is to put a price on the plastic carry bags. Let the buyer fork out Rs 10 or 15 more if the kilo of chicken or pork or fish is going to come with a plastic carry bag. In short let the buyer pay more if a plastic carry bag is to be used. This can go some way in checking the use of plastic carry bags. The PR administration need to seriously study this approach.