The Hindu 30.08.2013
Coimbatore Corporation to intensify drive against plastics
Of the 800 tonnes waste the civic body manages everyday, around five per cent is plastics
With a renewed vigour the Coimbatore Corporation will
soon launch a drive against the use of plastic bags less than 40-micron
thickness. The Corporation will table a subject in this regard before
the Council on Thursday for approval.
The subject
says the widespread use by members of the public and traders of plastic
bags, plastic-coated plates, plastic cups, tumblers, plastic table mats,
etc. finally end up on the streets. From there they reach the drains,
choke the flow of sewage and finally pollute the environment. Not only
that, the plastics also kill the animals that consume them.
The
Government has enacted the Environment Protection Act, 1986 and framed
the Plastic Waste Management and Handling Rules, 2011 banning plastic
bags less than 40-micron thickness. The Corporation proposed to act
against those who manufacture, stock and sell such bags and also against
those who use those bags.
A senior Corporation
official says that the civic body has been struggling every day in
dealing with plastics. Of the 800 tonnes waste the Corporation manages
everyday, around five per cent is plastics – 40 tonnes.
In the absence of source segregation, the plastics get mixed with other waste to only complicate the segregation process.
The
official says that this time the Corporation is very serious about
enforcing the rule and initiating action also because the cost of
handling waste is increasing by the day as the Corporation is forced to
look for projects like waste-to-energy plant to solve the problem.
The Corporation Council in April this year debated the issue after Ward 61 Councillor S.M. Samy raised the issue.
After
a few other councillors also voiced their concerns, the Mayor, S.M.
Velusamy, asked the Commissioner ,G. Latha to constitute a committee to
device ways to remove plastics from drains, roads and vacant lands.
He had also raised the issue in September last year when the Corporation launched a mass cleaning drive.
The
Mayor had said that when Corporation workers had cleaned drains in
response to residents’ complaints about choked drains, they found that
plastics were the culprit.
Statistics
Statistics
available with the Corporation reveal that the civic body has this year
(till June 15, 2013) seized 2,814 kg plastics.
The seizure in 2012 was around 3,000 kg and in 2011 it was nearly 5,000 kg.