Deccan Chronicle 20.02.2010

None to rein in plastic menace

Chennai, Feb. 19: While a single low density plastic sheet can take about 1,000 years to degrade, Chennai city produces nearly 4,000 tonnes of plastic waste every day. A single bookshop in the city gives out 10,000- 30,000 plastic bags a month and popular restaurants in the city contribute several thousands of plastic bags everyday to the total plastic waste. As the city is yet to facilitate a proper system to monitor plastic waste accumulation, tons of plastic bags also litter the roads, which also can prevent rainwater from seeping into the ground.

“Chennai city generates about 48 tonnes of plastic waste every day. Considering the practical aspect, we cannot implement a complete ban on plastic. An effective way of handling this issue is source segregation and complete recycling of the plastic waste,” says Rajesh Lakhoni, commissioner of Chennai Corporation. According to him, different corporation divisions in the city have already started source segregation and the Corporation is taking initiative in areas like Anna Nagar by collecting segregated plastic waste from households by paying them money for it.

“Besides waste segregation and recycling, more than 1,800 tricycles in the city that are doing plastic segregation from garbage dump yards are also getting incentives with the help of Corporation and this segregated plastic is also being recycled,” Mr. Lakhoni added. Several other states in the country have implemented effective systems regulating the usage of plastic. “States like Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Rajasthan and Kerala have effectively banned the usage of polythene carry bags for food stuffs, but Tamil Nadu is yet to take such an initiative. The minimum thickness specified in the 1999 plastic usage regulatory rule was 20 microns. As we do not have the manpower and machinery to monitor the plastic thickness, we are initiating campaigns to reduce the usage of plastic itself,” said a senior official of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.