Giridih, Say No to Poly bags!
An Environmental Vision for Giridih district
Poly bag culture…
• In India it got momentum in 1970s
• Every year 500 billion plastic bags are used
worldwide (500,000,000,000)
• More than 100 Million tons of plastic is produced
every year across the globe.
• In India 1 Kg plastic is used per person in a year
(the global use is 18 Kg & the urban India is very
close to that level of consumption).
Source: United Nations Environment Programme
• About 5 Million tons of plastic products consumed
in India every year.
• Central Pollution Control Board estimates about
10000 tons of plastic waste is generated across
India daily.
• As per these estimates everyday about 5 Ton
plastic waste is generated in Giridih – More than
50% of that from 10 major locations.
The consumption growth is
alarming as it has severe
environmental hazards.
Poly bags - packaging materials
HDPE economical disposable plastic bags to carry groceries etc.
are made of High Density Poly Ethylene
LDPE –
smaller plastic bags for containing and storing food and
other items are made of Low Density Polyethylene
Plastic sachets, zipper and pouches
Bin bags to collect garbage
Alarming facts about poly bags
• Plastic bags kill at least 100,000 birds, whales,
seals and turtles every year
• Plastics with a thickness less than 35 microns
are the most harmful ones which are mostly
given out by the retailers and take away food
outlets
• Food is not safe in these and has chances of
cross contamination
It takes almost 1000 years for
plastics to decay and mix with soil
The advantage factor of poly bags are its light
weight, portability, high strength, low cost and
capacity to hold liquids also.
The highest disadvantage of poly bags are its
environmental and life hazard.
The existing alternatives to poly bag are
following:
• 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Biodegradable bags made from fabrics, popular as Thaila
Nylon bags that can be used and reused several times
Paper bags and packets
Wicker basket, jute bags, sacks
Canvas bags
Hazards of poly bags
• Littered plastic bag garbage presents unhygienic
scene.
• The poly bags choke the drainage causing over
flow of drains, it spreads waterborne diseases.
• Animals, fish and marine species die of eating
these poly bags
misunderstanding the plastic garbage as food item
swallow them and die.
New Rules for Plastic Waste Management by Union
Environment Ministry notified …..
• To fix a minimum price for carry bags as well as ban the
use of plastic sachets for storing, packing, or selling
chewable tobacco.
• Municipal authorities will have to notify the minimum
price for carry bags taking into account factors such as
size of the bags, material cost and waste management
cost in order to encourage reuse and minimise waste.
• A ban on plastic bags (below 20 microns) has already
been imposed by various states and also in a few towns
and districts in India. It is going to extend this to other
parts of the country also.
Perspectives of various stakeholders:
Limiting Factors:
Retail
er
Reckless behaviour
Open littering
Limited alternatives
Poor waste management
No waste recycling
Cost
Strength
Portability
Manufa
cturer
Consu
mer
Say No to Poly bags in Giridih!
Priority Intervention Areas with high poly bag usage
Suggested strategies for Giridih
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Massive district campaign started in various phases
Mass awareness and motivation
Procurement of alternative bags at subsidized price.
Monitoring and penal provisions for enforcement of
eco-sensitive No Poly bag campaign.
Rehabilitation of traders & suppliers engaged in poly
bag trade.
Improving Solid Waste Management
Setting up recycling units by Municipality with local
NGOs and other social entrepreneurs.
Mass Education & Awareness
Target partners People’s representatives, NGOs, Schools,
Youth Groups, Media
Possible interventions
Development of supplementary curriculum for
schools and school based activiteis.
Rally, nukkad, marathon like mass events.
Road show and interaction with shop keepers
audio visual and print IEC materials & display
Providing alternatives
Target Partners: Corporate, Line Agencies,
Designers, Traders, local bodies
• Plan for procurement and supply chain of poly bag
alternatives.
• The cost of such can be further subsidized by
printing advertisements on the bag.
Lots of local industrial units are aggressively campaigning their brands
Large IEC materials are published by various Govt agencies at state
and district level.
These together can significantly bring down the cost of alternative
bags. The reusable bags can be encouraged from traditional materials
by suitable advertisements to make it fashionable. This requires a
district cell on bag designs involving local designers.
Rehabilitation of Plastic bag manufactures and dealers
Target partners : Local Bodies, traders, Bank, Industry
Department
The rehabilitation plan should come out with some
need assessment meeting
and analyzing the possible scope of their engagement
in alternative packaging materials.
The district can facilitate capital mobilization for their
engagement in alternative packaging trade or recycle
business.
This could be a real good model of shifting them to the
cause of No Polythene Campaign.
Monitoring and ban enforcement
Target Partners -
Community Organizations,
Home guard, Traffic police, Media
Intensive monitoring and enforcement is required for
success of the campaign.
The penal amount should be symbolic and minimal but
every time reminding the people about the social
offence they are committing.
(can be used for infrastructure development, operational costs, IEC & Municipal
gains)
It would be also interesting to daily highlight the
income from penalties to make the campaign a
household debate.
Recycling
Target Partners : Municipality, NGOs, Social Entrepreneurs,
Banks, State Pollution Control Board
• 84 percent (by weight) of municipal solid waste could be
reused, recycled or composted instead of being buried or
burned.
• An exception is plastic, which comprises about 7 percent by
weight or 20 percent by volume of municipal solid waste.
• Due to technical and financial limitations, less than ten
percent of plastic is currently "recycled."
• The district plans can involve local municipality, urban bodies,
NGOs and social entrepreneurs in developing alterative
strategies of solid waste management and recycle of poly
bags.
Time to work together to minimize poly bag
waste towards
A healthy, happy, clean and safe
Giridih!
THANK YOU