120 kg of single use plastic seized from south Chennai

Though such raids to seize the banned plastic bags are a fortnightly affair, the intensified effort was conducted to mark the World Earth Day, for which the theme this year was to end plastic pollution.

Speaking to DT Next, a senior Corporation official said that the plastic pollution should be curbed at the source, before it reaches the public. “If plastic less than 50 micron reaches the public, it ends up becoming the responsibility of the Corporation, as it eventually finds its way into the bins or in the waterbodies. We wanted to act on both sides — so we seized the bags from traders and commercial areas while we also cleaned up the lakes during the weekend,” said the official. The raids were carried out in Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Adyar, Perungudi and Sholinganallur.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) study in 60 major Indian cities revealed that Chennai generates 429.39 tonnes of plastic waste a day, constituting 9.54 per cent of total municipal solid waste generated per day. Recent data shows that only 9 per cent of all plastic ever discarded since 1950 has been recycled, and the rest became pollution in landfills, dumpsites, incinerator emissions, or oceans.

City-based activists have been batting for tackling the plastic problem at the production stage, as recycling is not effective in all cases. Point in case, the thin plastic bags (lesser than 50 microns), which often end up being single-use plastic. Siddharth Hande, Founder and CEO of Kabbadiwala Connect, which works with the informal network of kabbadiwalas to encourage recycling, said that plastic can only be down-cycled. “In every cycle of reusing plastic, you lose some of the thickness. If I buy thick plastic, I can down-cycle it and the thickness will reduce in the process. With the thinnest of bags, there is nothing that can be done. There is a possibility of shredding and using on roads but it is hard to operationalise. So, the thin plastic bags end up becoming single use plastic,” he said.