The Hindu : Final campaign against `plastic menace'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 05, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Final campaign against `plastic menace'

By M. Raghuram

MANGALORE MAY 4. Though a campaign against the use of plastic carry bags launched in the city a year ago evoked a positive response, the residents failed to sustain it, and the bags are back on the streets.

The activists, who launched the campaign, are making efforts to put an end to the use of plastic carry bags. Under the banner of "Nairmalya Samitigala Okkuta" (Federation of Committees of Hygiene), they have launched a plastic carry bag collection competition in the city.

In first and second phases of this novel programme, the activists of the okkuta collected 2,705 kg. of plastic items strewn around in the city. In the third phase of the "Plastic hekkiko andolana", the organisers expect a positive response from the people of Mangalore. This will be a crucial phase as the city will get first monsoon showers by the month end, and rainwater will carry away polythene bags into the Netravati and the Gurupur and pollute them.

In the process, plastic items block drainages in the city, causing hardship to the citizens. Environmental groups said the entry of plastic items into the rivers would not only affect fish, but also the mangroves on their banks.

Mangalore city consumes nearly 10 tonnes of plastic each month. Nearly 20 non-governmental organisations with the help of the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) are all set to launch the final campaign against the "plastic menace" before the onset of monsoon.

A comprehensive garbage disposal system is also taking shape in the city. V.S. Rama Devi, Governor, launched this movement organised by the NGOs last year.

Speaking to The Hindu about the plans of the Joint Action Committee of the NGOs, Vineetha Rai said the action would start at every home by separating plastic items that could be discarded, mainly the thin-film polythene bags.

The activists would collect them from pre-determined places in the city and deposit at a centralised spot for effective disposal.

Schools and youth and women's organisations would be invited to participate in the movement. Awareness would be created on plastic waste treatment among the people, she added.

Ms. Rai expressed the hope that the campaign would yield good results as many business establishments had plans to replace plastic packing material with paper and allied products.

Medical shops, hotels, and caterers were now switching over to conventional packing material such as plantain leaves, paper, and gunny bags.

But that was not enough to curb the use of plastic carry bags in the city, she said.

The district administration has banned plastic items and bags below 20 microns thickness.

A report stated that though the local manufacturers and suppliers adhered to the rule, spurious polythene bags were being smuggled into the city from other parts of the State and from Kerala.

Ms. Rai said with the advent of pet bottles carrying aerated drinks, pollution had reached a new high, and unless there was a mass movement against the ecologically hazardous material, the battle against the use of plastic packing items could be lost.

Suresh Shetty, President of the Mangalore City Parisarasktara Okkuta, said the okkuta had developed environment-friendly carry bags which were available in the range of Rs. 6 and Rs. 10.

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Final campaign against `plastic menace'