greendaddy

Something i read by Sushmita Shrivastava, Bhopal

 

The plastic carry bags are ruining our environment and killing large numbers of animals, but it is surprising that the government has failed to ban or even reduce their use. Much has been said about the harms of plastic but the fact remains that even today the plastic carry bags are being used freely everywhere.

 

Unfortunately, plastic carry bags have got deeply entrenched into our lifestyle, with every vendor doling out these bags so freely, and moreover it is so convenient for the lazy ones among us to dispose carry bags after single use. This has led to a massive pile up of plastic bags everywhere.

 

Now every vacant place is littered with plastic bags. Little did we realise, that this harmless carry bag could clog drains, spew poison if burnt and take hundreds of years to perish. In rural areas, the plastic carry bags are killing thousands of domestic animals every year.

 

People have long forgotten the use of cloth or nylon bags, which once they did carry for shopping. But now the time has come to revive cloth or nylon bags and forget plastic carry bags forever.

 

We worship cows. But we allow thousands of innocent cows to die a painful death by continuing to use plastic carry bags. 

The West Bengal government recently decided to impose a blanket ban on the use of plastic bags in the state in order to protect the environment.

Announcing the government's decision after a meeting with the Chief Minister, Environment Minister Manabendra Mukherjee said that though there was no timeframe, the ban would be imposed all over the state 'in phases'.

 

"We must not forget the catastrophic effect of plastic carry bags in Mumbai during the July 26 deluge, when most of the high drains were found clogged with non bio-degredable plastic bags," the minister pointed out and sought wholehearted support from the general public to help impose the ban.

 

Incidentally, though the Union government has imposed a similar natonwide ban about two years ago, barring Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttarranchal, all states had preferred to ignore it citing various reasons.

 

In case of West Bengal though the state government intended to impose the ban several times, the strong lobby from the plastic federations had somehow been able to convince them against any such move leading to the present mushrooming of plastic bag manufacturers in the state.

 

 

But the ban on plastic bags doesn’t have that much potential for fun. I’m afraid the ban is difficult to enforce in a country where law enforcement hardly exists.

We already have laws banning the use and manufacture of thin gauge plastic bags, but they continue to be made and used with impunity and continue to choke drainage systems and be eaten by unsuspecting animals and marine life.
 

One look at the chaos on our roads and the government’s inability to enforce laws becomes clearly visible.
 

We export cloth bags to environmentally concerned customers all over the world from http://www.badlani.com/bags but hardly every get any customers in India. Sad, isn’t it?

This article came out in  today's Times of India, Chandigarh issue.

CHANDIGARH: He started his career in the firmament of advertising but veered away from it to create the Flying Machine jeans brand.

But what Rajiv Badlani never knew was that one day he would become a forceful campaigner against plastic bags. Badlani talks freely about the hedonistic lifestyle he led after selling off Flying Machine to Arvind Mills in the mid-1980s.

The deal deservedly earned him good money and life became one big party for this Ahmedabad-based entrepreneur. The turning point in his life came rather unexpectedly.

One day, Badlani's daughter returned from school and declared that no one in the house would use plastic bags -- her teacher had rammed home the message that plastic bags were devouring the environment and this had to be stopped.

The seeds of green thinking were sowed in Badlani's mind for the first time on the strength of his little daughter's conviction. And, thought Badlani, why not do something concrete to precipitate the junking of plastic bags?

Soon came a brain wave, which signalled a change in the course of Badlani's life, and he took the decision of manufacturing eco-friendly bags in Ahmedabad.

Today, despite having become a leading exporter of cotton bags in the country, he hasn't forgotten what he had set out to achieve, the lesson he had learnt from his daughter.

Badlani has formed the Ecoright Association, which is spearheading a clutch of campaigns in Ahmedabad against the use of plastic bags. As a realistic campaigner, Badlani doesn't paint a rosy picture knowing well that none exists.

He said, "Plastic bags are here to stay. They have become an icon of convenience and practicality. Only education, and nothing else, is the real antidote to this menace.

And the best way is to generate awareness among children. That's what Ecoright is doing at the school level." TOI reached out to Badlani in Ahmedabad and asked him to draw a roadmap for Chandigarh to realise the dream of becoming plastic bag free.

The former consultant with Ogilvy & Mather was more than willing to join hands with TOI for the sake of preserving the city's environment.