Sir,
Only 8% of plastic waste is recycled. The rest ends up in landfills and is burned or becomes litter. While big brands such as Marks and Spencer’s, Reebok et al have started giving paper carry bags for a while now, smaller stores continue with their use of plastic bags. The reason why big brands have stopped using plastic bags is because they have to adhere to international standards which are stringent and they would have been fined heavily if they were to still use plastic carry bags. Hence while it is easier to extract compliance from big brands, India has not been able to curtail or stop the use of plastics by many of its food manufacturing companies that use plastic and aluminium-coated wrappers. If the polluter pays in principle, it is the manufacturer of plastics that should be made to pay for recycling or safe disposal of plastics, a technology we are yet to develop.
Odisha has to devise means to develop waste-recycling plants at the community level. Now wisdom should be dawned on the Ministers who should go to Kerala to see its waste disposal system so that we can hope to see some action soon on this front. If not, Odisha will be buried under plastics! For starters, the Government should just ban plastic carry bags.
- K Ravi, E-237, GGP Colony, Bhubaneswar-751025, Mob: 9437616497