Plastic ban in Maharashtra gets thumbs up from eco-activists

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government’s decision to ban the use of plastic has been welcomed by environmentalists, even though it is being frowned upon by some stakeholders who feel that lakhs of people will be rendered jobless in the Rs 50,000 crore industry.

Noted environmentalist Almitra Patel said the industry need not resist the government’s decision, but rather try to accommodate, change itself and manufacture alternate items which are not harmful for the ecosystem. “The plastic menace is there particularly due to the non-recyclable food or snack packaging items,” said Patel, who is a member of the Supreme Court-appointed committee for solid waste management.

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S K Ray, the honorary secretary of the Indian Centre for Plastic in the Environment (ICPE), set up on the recommendation of a task force constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, said the ban on plastics is not a solution to the growing challenges of solid waste management. This is possibly a “retrograde step,” he said.

To a query, Ray, in an e-mail response, said the ban would hurt consumers the most, mainly the low income families. It would be hard to buy ordinary grocery products loose from retail outlets, he said. “Also, it would be difficult to deliver liquid cooked food items like curries, chutneys and sauces, to customers ordering meals online or on phone,” he said.