Residents gear up for plastics ban, but doubt its effectiveness

K Viswanathan, secretary, Mylapore Residents Welfare Association, said their concerted efforts to become eco-friendly have prepared them for the ban. “At the moment, we are asking ourselves how we can cooperate with the government on the ban. We are fully geared up,” he said.

Not far away, in Abhiramapuram, the relatively new residents’ association has kick-started a sustained movement through reuse of bags through bag pools in the locality. Sushi Nataraj of the Abhiramapuram Neighbourhood Residents’ Association (AbhiNeRA) said, “It was difficult initially, but more people have come forward. We have a successful bag pool initiative in our neighbourhood. There is change, slowly.”

In Valasaravakkam, Sri Lakshmi Nagar residents are trying to understand the ban, even as they struggle with source segregation and composting. “We have about 15 composting bins in households. We are not sure what kind of ban this would be. So, we are unable to come up with any strategies,” said Dharamraja, president of the association of 300 households.

“Plastics are popular among vegetable and flower vendors because paper bags are not going to hold the damp contents. In that case, we should be able to rope in NGOS and self-help groups who can churn out alternatives in the form of leaf based products involving mantharai or vazhai elai,” said Ganga Sridhar, an RA Puram resident who is part of Sustainable Waste Management People’s Forum.

Arul Priya, a resident of MRC Nagar, who organised a bag pool in her apartment, and founder of Nammaboomi that manufactures environmental friendly bags, pointed out that there are doubts about the viability of this ban. “However, there are manufacturers of plastic bags who are looking at the alternatives.”