The debate on use of plastic bags has been going for the last few decades. In fact it has become a major environmental concern more particularly in cities and urban areas. Plastic bags are one of the most prevalent types of litter in inhabited areas. Large buildups of plastic bags can clog drainage systems and contribute to flooding. Everywhere in Imphal city, one will see drains and nullahs clogged with plastic bags. A little rain and the roads and ingkhols would be flooded. One stark example is the Naga Nullah in Imphal. One will not be able see the flowing water as it has been perennially covered by the floating plastic mass. The nullah dumps its plastic waste into the Nambul River which again takes it as far as Loktak Lake, which is dangerous as it pollutes the water in the lake and its aquatic life. We know for certain that plastic waste is dangerous to animals specially cows and horses. When ingested, the plastic bags choke them to death. One of the major causes of death of horses in Imphal is from plastic bags. Once they eat the plastic bags, they can get caught up and wrapped round the gut or in the throat, causing suffocation and starvation. Littering is a serious problem in developing countries, more so in cities where waste collection infrastructure is less developed. While we wait for the Solid Waste Project at Lamdeng to be properly developed, the landfills in Lamphel area is becoming more and more dangerous. On the way to the Shija Hospitals, everyone will get a glimpse of the temporary landfill. We have even witnessed its ill-effects during floods. The said landfill had become a source of water-borne diseases. Not only do plastic bags fill up our landfill sites where they will remain forever. There is also general lack of awareness to its dangers. People throw them into the streets. They accept plastic bags when they do not need to and once out of the shops they take their items and litter the streets with the unwanted plastic bags. According to Vincent Cobb, a manufacturer of reusable bags, each year millions of discarded plastic shopping bags end up as litter in the environment when improperly disposed of.  The same properties that have made plastic bags so commercially successful and ubiquitous—namely their low weight and resistance to degradation—have also contributed to their proliferation in the environment. Due to their durability, plastic bags can take centuries to decompose. So, serious attention and deliberations are needed on the use of plastic bags. Once a year campaign rituals and limited awareness campaigns has little or almost no impact on the minds of the general public. The municipal authorities could incorporate the dangers of the use of plastic bags into the ‘revamped but sluggish’ Zero Garbage Campaign. But still, the awareness campaign with regard to plastic waste needs to be taken up in a big way. Here, we have to act very firmly. Plastic bags are either restricted or completely banned in over a quarter of the world`s countries. Belgium, Italy, Ireland and Hong Kong have legislation discouraging the use and encouraging the recycling of plastic bags by imposing a fixed or minimum levy for the supply of plastic bags or obliging retailers to recycle. The pollution caused by their creation alone is enough to warrant a ban on their manufacture and their use. We cannot have this accumulation of plastic bags and the only way forward is to ban their distribution and use. Limited restriction like in its thickness is of no good as we have seen in the past. We should go for a complete ban of the manufacture and use of plastic while encouraging paper bags and bags made of bio-degradable material. Plastic bags should be banned and replaced with bags that we would not so readily disregard. Paper can be reused. If paper bags are encouraged, it would not only help the environment, but it will create jobs for the self help groups here.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/04/the-plastic-debate/

The debate on use of plastic bags has been going for the last few decades. In fact it has become a major environmental concern more particularly in cities and urban areas. Plastic bags are one of the most prevalent types of litter in inhabited areas. Large buildups of plastic bags can clog drainage systems and contribute to flooding. Everywhere in Imphal city, one will see drains and nullahs clogged with plastic bags. A little rain and the roads and ingkhols would be flooded. One stark example is the Naga Nullah in Imphal. One will not be able see the flowing water as it has been perennially covered by the floating plastic mass. The nullah dumps its plastic waste into the Nambul River which again takes it as far as Loktak Lake, which is dangerous as it pollutes the water in the lake and its aquatic life. We know for certain that plastic waste is dangerous to animals specially cows and horses. When ingested, the plastic bags choke them to death. One of the major causes of death of horses in Imphal is from plastic bags. Once they eat the plastic bags, they can get caught up and wrapped round the gut or in the throat, causing suffocation and starvation. Littering is a serious problem in developing countries, more so in cities where waste collection infrastructure is less developed. While we wait for the Solid Waste Project at Lamdeng to be properly developed, the landfills in Lamphel area is becoming more and more dangerous. On the way to the Shija Hospitals, everyone will get a glimpse of the temporary landfill. We have even witnessed its ill-effects during floods. The said landfill had become a source of water-borne diseases. Not only do plastic bags fill up our landfill sites where they will remain forever. There is also general lack of awareness to its dangers. People throw them into the streets. They accept plastic bags when they do not need to and once out of the shops they take their items and litter the streets with the unwanted plastic bags. According to Vincent Cobb, a manufacturer of reusable bags, each year millions of discarded plastic shopping bags end up as litter in the environment when improperly disposed of.  The same properties that have made plastic bags so commercially successful and ubiquitous—namely their low weight and resistance to degradation—have also contributed to their proliferation in the environment. Due to their durability, plastic bags can take centuries to decompose. So, serious attention and deliberations are needed on the use of plastic bags. Once a year campaign rituals and limited awareness campaigns has little or almost no impact on the minds of the general public. The municipal authorities could incorporate the dangers of the use of plastic bags into the ‘revamped but sluggish’ Zero Garbage Campaign. But still, the awareness campaign with regard to plastic waste needs to be taken up in a big way. Here, we have to act very firmly. Plastic bags are either restricted or completely banned in over a quarter of the world`s countries. Belgium, Italy, Ireland and Hong Kong have legislation discouraging the use and encouraging the recycling of plastic bags by imposing a fixed or minimum levy for the supply of plastic bags or obliging retailers to recycle. The pollution caused by their creation alone is enough to warrant a ban on their manufacture and their use. We cannot have this accumulation of plastic bags and the only way forward is to ban their distribution and use. Limited restriction like in its thickness is of no good as we have seen in the past. We should go for a complete ban of the manufacture and use of plastic while encouraging paper bags and bags made of bio-degradable material. Plastic bags should be banned and replaced with bags that we would not so readily disregard. Paper can be reused. If paper bags are encouraged, it would not only help the environment, but it will create jobs for the self help groups here.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/04/the-plastic-debate/