Plastic bags are highly toxic   Every year, around 500 billion (500,000,000,000) plastic bags are used worldwide. So many that over one million bags are being used every minute and they're damaging our environment. India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Yet, precious little has been done to recycle, re-use and dispose of plastic waste. Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade. They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when  animals accidentally ingest them. But the problems surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before they photo degrade.

Our planet is becoming increasingly contaminated  by Plastic pollution and by our unnecessary use of plastic carry bags. Big black bin liners, plastic carrier bags carrying advertising logos, clear sandwich bags, vegetable bags and a variety of other forms used to carry our daily food items and other items are all polluting our environment. Just take a look around you. Plastic bags can be seen hanging from the branches of trees, flying in the air on windy days, settled amongst bushes and floating on rivers. They clog up gutters and drains causing water and sewage to overflow and become the breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that cause diseases.

Animals and sea creatures are hurt and killed every day by discarded plastic bags - a dead turtle with a plastic bag hanging from its mouth isn't a pleasant sight but mistaking plastic bags for food is commonplace amongst marine animals. Plastic clogs their intestines and leads to slow starvation. Others become entangled in plastic bags and drown.   Because plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down, every year our seas become 'home' to more and more bags that find their way there through our sewers and waterways. Given India's poor garbage collection facilities, tons of plastic bags litter the roads, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground. Hundreds of cows die in New Delhi alone every year when they choke on plastic bags while trying to eat vegetable waste stuffed in the garbage.

Every bag that's washed down a drain during rainfall ends up in the sea every bag that's flushed down a toilet (many mall bags are), ends up in the sea - every bag that’s blown into a river will most likely end up in the sea. Besides choking drains, plastics are highly toxics. When burned they release cancer-causing gases. Lying in the garbage, polythene bags also find their way in gut of cattle, asphyxiating the animals. The cheap bags contain chemicals such as cadmium- or lead- based chemicals that are harmful to health. They leach into vegetables, meat and food.      An estimated 15 lakh computers and 30 lakh mobile phones are disposed of every year in India.  “Computers, mobiles and other electronic items generate hazardous e-waste like lead, brominated flame retardants and chromium which can cause cancer,” There is another problem: India has more to deal with than just the waste generated at home. The Environment  Protection Authority of Britain recently said 23,000  tonnes of e-waste was dumped in India, China and Pakistan.   Several  Indian states banned plastic use   Several countries have already banned their use and more will doubtless follow. Several Indian states such as Maharastra, Dehli, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himanchal Pradesh, Goa , West Bengal etc. banned their use. Mumbai's storm water drainage choking with accumulated plastics waste, making the floods unmanageable, is an old story. The Environment Ministry has banned manufacture and use of plastics carry bags less than 8 inches X 12 inches in  size 20 micron in width. The ministry has also asked State Governments to register all plastics manufacturing unit, so that these can be regulated.   Various States have increased the minimum thickness of plastic carry bags to even higher limits of 40, 50, or 70 microns. These States/ UTs are: Goa (40 micron), Himachal Pradesh ( 70 micron; HP Cabinet decided to ban plastics in the entire State with effect from 15.08.2009), Maharashtra (50 micron), Meghalaya ( 40 micron), Punjab (30 micron), Chandigarh (30 micron),  West Bengal (40 micron ), Kerala (30 micron).  (a) The Government of Delhi issued a notification dated 21st November 2008 titled “ the Delhi Degradable Plastic Bag ( Manufacturing, Sale and Usage )and Garbage (Control) (Amendment ) Act, 2008” Section 11(b0 of this notification stipulates that no person shall manufacture, stock, distribute or sell plastic begs made of virgin of recycled, degradable or non –degradable plastic bags which are less than 40 microns in thickness. Another notification issued on 7th January  2009 under the powers delegated to Government of Delhi by the Central Government under Section -5 of the Environment (Protection ) Act, 1986, which prohibits the use, sale and storage off all kinds of plastic bags in Five Star and Four Star Hotels, Hospitals with 100 more beds except the use of plastic bags as pres cribbed under Bio-medical Waste (management and handling) Rules, seats, all fruits and vegetable outlets selling different consumer products including fruits and vegetables.  (b) West Bengal Pollution Control Board has banned manufacture, sale and use of plastic carry bags in ecologically fragile areas viz the entire Sunderban areas, Hilly areas of Darjeeling distinct, Sub-division, CRZ areas (Digha, Sagar, Bakkhali etc.), Forest areas and in different heritage and tourist site.  (c) Action has been initiated for public awareness (trainings, workshops) for plastic waste management such as proper disposal of plastic bottles, banning of plastic carry bags, use of cloth/jute bags etc.  (d) Coloured Plastic carry bags have been banned in Himachal Pradesh. Use of plastic carry begs have been banned in some districts in Mizoram /West Bengal   (e) Jammu and Kashmir has also banned polythene carry bags under Non Bio- Degradable Material (Management, Handling and Disposal) Act, 2007 with effect from 11.5.2009.  (f) Government of Himachal Pradesh has taken a cabinet decision for complete bad of plastics in Himachal Pradesh under the HP Non-Biodegradable Garbage Control Act, 1995 effective from 15th August 2009.    SC not to lift ban on use of plastic bags   The Supreme Court on January 29, 2010 refused to lift the ban on the use on plastic and polythene  bags. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan today declined the plea of the All  India Plastic Manufacturers Association for staying the operation of Delhi High Court judgement which had banned the use of polythene bags in the national capital. Earlier, counsel for the petitioner submitted before the court that the use of polythene bags do not cause environmental pollution. Also the livelihood of the people working in the plastic industry was at stake. The apex court was, however, not impressed by the contention of the petitioner.

An Example of Strict plastic ban in Assam   Dibrugrah, March 06, 2008: Use of non-degradable plastic as the carry bags has been banned from time to time by the Dibrugrah (Assam) district administration. But since not much was done to ensure people did not use polythene, the “ban” would invariably die a natural death.  This time, the Dibrugarh Municipal Board has decided to take things into its hands and do everything it takes to banish polythene from the town.   As a first step, the civic body will deploy 20 homeguards to keep an eye on shopkeepers and businessmen who have not been heeding the ban on the use of polythene carry bags. And the penalty is not on the shopkeepers alone.If the neighbourhood grocer packs the month’s stock into a polythene bag and the customer only “innocently” carries it home, chances are both the customer and the grocer will be penalised. “We have been forced to take such stringent steps, as it seems that a section of these unscrupulous businessmen have taken the appeals issued by the municipal board as just a formality. We will impose heavy penalty on all those who are still using polythene carry bags,” said Bitul Talukdar, the vice-chairman of the civic body.    Plastic, being non bio-degradable, is a major source of environmental pollution. Besides, they clog the drains causing artificial floods during the monsoon season.    Innovation in Recycling Technology     Centre for Environment Education (CEE) has been awarded the ‘Plasticon 2005 Award' on 1st October 2005 in Mumbai by the PlastIndia Foundation in the category of ‘Innovation in Recycling Technology'  for its innovation of a ‘Polyloom' . The polyloom is a plastic weaving handloom that helps reuse and recycling of discarded plastic bags (polybags).    The concept of ‘polyloom' has been popularized by CEE's Waste Management Initiative as part of its mandate to address the reuse and recycling of dry waste from domestic garbage. Under this initiative, CEE has established an ‘Ecofriendly Reuse and Recycling Unit' (CEE-ERU) especially for recycling of paper scraps and plastic carry bags. In this unit, paper scrap is recycled by the hand-made paper making method while polybags are reused through the polybags weaving method.    The plastic weaving concept is based on the fact that plastic bags which are thin and flimsy (be it 20µ or less) have an average life time of 2 to 3 hours after which they are discarded. They end up in gutters, dumpsites or on mountain sides and even in the stomachs of animals; they are responsible for clogging, choking, flooding, asphyxiation, landslides, death and destruction. Instead, if they are collected, even from roads, they can be washed, cleaned, dried, cut into strips and woven into the basic plastic textile fabric, which can then be stitched into various products like mats, folders, hand bags and purses. In this manner, both the plastic and paper waste becomes more manageable and less destructive.    The first CEE-ERU was first established in Coorg, Karnataka and subsequently, through various CEE offices, it has also been established in Ahmedabad, Coimbatore , Delhi , Goa , Patna and Tirupathi. Today, the concept has been taken up by many women's self-help groups who gather raw material either by door to door collection or by buying it from rag pickers. This provides them livelihood while taking the plastic carry bags away from the environment.

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