Shoppers, retailers still use plastic bags

Banned item

Plastic bags are still being used extensively in markets across Delhi despite the ban on their use imposed in January 2009.

Metrolife discovers that at grocery stores and with vegetable vendors, plastic bags are still being offered for free and most of them have not switched to reusable cloth or synthetic shopping bags.

Not only this, most plastic carry bags do not even have the mandatory name, registration number of the manufacturer and thickness of the bag printed on them.

The Delhi Government had passed a law prohibiting manufacture and sale of plastic bags. Only biodegradable plastic bags, with a minimum thickness of 40 microns, can be reused in residential areas. Those found infringing this, face strict action under the Environment Protection Act and can even end up in prison.

But shopkeepers have another story to tell. “We are in a state of confusion whether to keep plastic bags or not. When a customer comes to know that we do not have bags, they refuse to purchase items from my shop. So, I had to start keeping plastic bags. How can I see my customers going to other shops where plastic bags are easily available?” says Sanjeeb Maiti, owner of a departmental store in market number one of Chittaranjan Park. He adds, “There should be strict laws for everyone. The factories which are manufacturing these plastic bags should be closed. Only then can we find a solution to this problem.”

Dr Usha Maheshwari, a resident of Alaknanda seconds Sanjeeb and says, “The implementation of the law is very poor. It hasn’t been imposed properly at all. There is corruption everywhere. We just cannot find solution for anything in India so easily.”

The Delhi Government had then forbidden the sale, storage and usage of all kinds of
plastic bags in certain notified places on January 7, 2009, as per Delhi High Court’s directions. The notified places included all five and four star hotels, hospitals with 100 or more beds, restaurants and eating places with a seating capacity of more than 50, all Mother Dairy fruit and vegetable outlets, all liquor vends, shopping malls, shops in main markets and local shopping centres and retail and wholesale outlets of various brands of consumer products.

One can find carry bags made of cotton in Kendriya Bhandar that are made by the prisoners at Tihar Jail. These carry bags costs Rs 15 and the money earned is given to the Jail.

“You will find these bags in all the branches of Kendriya Bhandar. We do not encourage plastic bags after the government banned it. But, we find plastic bags all over Delhi. There is no strict law against it,” rues Hari Shankar, branch manager, Kendriya Bhandar, market number one, Chittaranjan Park.

First-time offenders are fined Rs 5,000 and second-time offenders Rs 10,000. Third-time offenders are fined Rs 25,000 and can be sentenced to three months’ imprisonment also.

Although the government had originally concluded that plastic bags were too cheap and convenient to be disposed  the authorities appear to have been swayed by environmentalists who pointed out that used bags were clogging drains and providing breeding grounds for malaria and dengue mosquitos.