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| Polythene Bags - The Menace Must Go | | | -Professor Saleem Ayaz Rather | 11/30/2009 12:51:06 AM |
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The most deserved extinction of polythene bags in J&K is on its way, thanks to the Govt. of J&K, the Judiciary and Environmentalists/ NGO’s. Had there been any organism facing extinction the Govt., scientists and NGO’s would have definitely come forward to save that organism from extinction with the spirit of conservation of Biodiversity. But the dawning of realization on the part of Govt. of J&K about nuisance value of polythene carry bags and their far reaching implication of eco-degradation with the use of polythene bags has been evident with the banning polythene bags in the state vide SRO 182-dated 18th June 2008.A public notice issued by the state pollution control board which states as the sale/stocking/storing/transportation and use of polythene bags by any individual will attract legal penalty with imprisonment to an extent of one month or fine to the tune of Rs.5000 or both along with seizure of confiscation as warranted under Jammu and Kashmir non-biodegradable material (M,H,&D) Act 2007.
Polyethylene better known as polythene was discovered in 1933 and the experiment, led to its discovery, was conducted where in a mixture of ethylene and benzaldehyde was heated to Celsius 1700,’the pressure was raised to 1700 atmosphere and the substance got combined together and formed a polymer of ethylene.
Polythene due to its ease of use, hardness, light weight, water proof nature and low cost has found a wide applicability in modern society, used for packing and storing and as carry bags. It is non-biodegradable in nature as it is not degraded easily and will take hundreds of years to degrade. It is a thermoplastic material which when heated gets softened due to weakening of intermolecular forces and melts, on cooling it solidifies again.
Prior to imposition of ban on their use in Jammu and Kashmir, the polythene bags were found in and around houses, in the waterways including stagnant waters located or flowing through residential areas, forming a good percentage of municipal waste and also found at picnic spots. People used to carry polythene bags for different purposes like carrying clothes, vegetables and other eatables and even milk was carried in polythene bags. Black polythene bags were preferred so that the things carried their in are not identified by others, least knowing that this colour was far more harmful. People used to go market empty handed and returned home with a number of polythene bags containing shopping goods. Polythene bags have not even spared the Mughal Road. Noori Chamb, Chatta pani , Peer ki gali etc. spots on this otherwise virgin road, were ecologically invaded by the holiday makers, domestic tourists on their first visit in order to have glimpses of this road
According to a survey conducted earlier about 7 tons of polythene carry bags were used per day in Jammu and there were about 500 tons of polythene stored with various manufacturers. The industry was worth hundred crores in the state and around 20 crores alone in Jammu. Polythene bags have already been banned in more than 20 states and efforts are on to ban it in the rest of the states. We can also rid our state of polythene bags by joining hands with Govt. State pollution control board and Municipal Corporation in order to achieve the goal of ban on polythene carry bags. Recently volunteers of National Youth Project under the aegis of Gandhian peace foundation in collaboration with Srinagar Municipal Corporation jointly removed polythene from world famous Dal Lake of Kashmir. The volunteers were on an 8-days mission to initiate community programme for clearing summer capital water bodies from menace of polythene. The youth had arrived here from all parts of India collected heaps of garbage and polythene and disposed it off through Srinagar municipal corporation. The local people including morning walkers were inspired by cleaning derive of volunteers also joined them and took part in the cleaning derive.
Effects of polythene bags: The knowledge about the hazards caused by polythene bags particularly to the environment is quite high among the people but the knowledge of their effects on health of humans appears to be little understood.
Some of the harmful effects of polythene bags are as under:-
1. Polythene bags have harmful effects on soil, water and air. The International Research Institute (iRR) found that the polythene bags by preventing sunlight exposure of soil destroy the beneficial bacteria causing loss of fertility.
2. Burning of polythene bags produces dioxins and furan which are mutagenic and carcinogenic (cancer causing)
3. After articles, contained in the polythene bags, are used they are thrown away.
Being light in weight, they are taken away by winds and reach drains and cause blockage in drainage/sewage system of cities causing water logging, germination of bacterial and water born diseases and spread of mosquitoes
4. Polythene bags that are red or yellow bright in colour have toxic chemicals like, lead and cadmium and same colour gets leached off and affects the food stuffs kept in it
5. In a national seminar on protection and preservation of animals it was reported that about 60% of stray cows die due to the consumption of polythene bags. The ingested polythene disrupts the process of fermantion and mixing of contents that lead to indigestion. It also obstructs the digestive tract, if not removed by operation it can prove fatal.
Although govt. is trying hard to get rid of this non-biodegradable product through state Pollution Control Board, Municipal corporations but success can be achieved only when every citizen also comes forward in the campaign against polythene bags .The following suggestions can be taken into considerations while fighting this non-biodegradable product.
1. All educational institutions should have a checking squad at the entry point in order to see if any polythene bags are taken by the students for carrying books or any other articles. Besides caution boards showing Polythene Bags Are Banned should be installed within the institutions. Apart from this awareness programmes should be launched in educational institutions that should include symposium on the topic “ill-effects of polythene bags” Moreover guest lectures and rallies should also be organized.
2. Awareness programmes should be launched at tehsil level for general public, fruit-sellers, vendors, vegetable sellers and sweet shop owners etc. Where members drawn from pollution control board and municipal corporations should aware the public about the ill effectc of polythene not only on human beings but also on the soil which results in reduced crop production.
3. Entry points to famous tourist spots should also have a checking squad to prevent the use of polythene by domestic or foreign tourists.
4. Awareness programmes should be launched through electronic and print media so that the people living in the remotest areas of the state can know about the ill effects of polythene.
5. Environment friendly bags should be used which are biodegradeable as an alternative to polythene bags. Recently an awareness programme was launched by the students of institute of fashion designing where the students made bags out of newspaper, jute and even out of bags used for rice and flour and distributed them among the customers. The public in general was highly impressed by the steps taken by the institute in organizing such awareness programmes.
7. Checking squad needs to be deployed at public places like Airports, Railway Stations, Bus Stands and Hospitals to enforce the implementation of ban on the use of polythene bags.
8. Two pronged strategy needs to be adopted by the Govt., one, to ensure the availability of the bio-degradable bags in place of polythene bags for use by the people, the step that has well been initiated by the state govt. through the establishment of a manufacturing unit that will produce about 900 metric tons of bio-plastic bags in one year and, two, to rehabilitate the manufacturers of polythene bags by encouraging them to switch over to the production of bio-degradable bags
Thus the need of the hour is to say goodbye to polythene carry bags and instead shift to environment friendly bags so as to save the environment from this menace. |
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