Rally against plastic ban in Mumbai

Rattled by the blanket ban on sale and production of plastic products imposed by the Maharashtra government, hundreds of people from the industry staged rally at Azad Maidan in Mumbai. The protestors carried placards displaying messages such as 'Use Plastic Nicely - Dispose It Wisely', 'Plastic is not Bad - Littering is Bad', 'Stop Littering, Be A Responsible Citizen', 'Don't Litter', 'Plastic is 100% Recyclable', 'Remember The 4 R's of Plastics: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover'.

The protest was called by Maharashtra Plastic Manufacturing Association (MPMA), Plastic Manufacturers Social Welfare Association (PMSWA), other associations and dealers. MPMA President Ravi Jashnani said that the protest has been called to request the Maharashtra government to withdraw plastic ban issued on 2 Jan 2018. "For last several months, we have tried to bring the drawbacks of blanket ban on plastic to the notice of government. Unfortunately we have not succeeded in gaining any support; hence morcha seems to be the only option available to us to communicate our concerns and express our demands as well," he said. PMSWA Secretary Kaushik Sanghvi said that their demands are reasonable and are in the interest of all concerned. "It is not that we protest for the sake of protesting. We want to work together with authorities in ensuring that plastic does not cause any damage to the environment.

We welcome the government's move that has already banned usage of plastic bags below 50 micron, but it is sad that poor implementation of this ban has failed to curtail its usage," he said. "Plastic industry is growing at a rate of 15% per annum and any ban on it may turn out to be fatal for the economy. Ban may result in more dirty roads, higher usage of water, unemployment and negative impact on GDP growth and adverse impact on the tourism industry," Jashnani said. More than 2000 units are engaged in re-processing of plastic material and providing jobs to over 4 lakh people. The need for plastic can never be undermined since it is used in all sectors. Though paper and fabric can be the alternates of plastic; however for paper, more tree will be required to cut and fabric will be a costlier alternate. Instead re-processing of plastic results in electricity generation, fuel alternates etc. Currently over 90% plastic bottles are being re-used and over 60% plastic is being re-processed.