3 months after ban, single-use plastics still being seized in city

While the civic officials allege that some plastic manufacturers in Salem and Erode continue to manufacture the banned items, plastic manufacturers’ association claim that the banned items are smuggled into the state from neighbouring states.

According to a Chennai Corporation field officer, “Three months after the ban, we are still seizing the plastics. Of the total banned plastic entering the city, we are able to seize only 20 per cent to 30 per cent of banned plastics. The banned plastic items are manufactured in Salem, Erode and Puducherry, and reach wholesale dealers in Chennai during early hours.”

The plastic manufacturers debunked the allegation of producing banned plastic and said that the plastic items are coming from other states. “Banned plastics items are coming from Puducherry, Kerala and Karnataka. The plastic ban had become a damp squib like Gutkha ban. Police should check the state boundary and prevent the smuggling,” Virendra Kumar, president of Tamil Nadu plastic manufacturers’ association (TAPMA), said.

However, a senior Chennai Corporation official said that the civic body has the power to control distribution, sales and usage of banned plastics items and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has the authority to act against the illegal manufacturers.

Meanwhile, the field officers blamed the city police of not providing adequate protection to the officials raiding the shops. “When we give a request letter to the concerned police station to provide protection, they send one or two police. A few days ago, a scuffle erupted with a shop owner over seizing the plastics. The local police, without taking action against the shop owner, abused us,” the field officer alleged.

When contacted, a senior official did not refuse the deficit in police support but said, “Due to the elections, we could not receive expected support from the police. We will have a coordination meeting with the police after the elections.”

According to Chennai Corporation data, the civic body had collected 161.83 tons of banned plastics items in the city from January 1 to March 31. In January, the officials had seized 88.41 tons and in February, they had seized 22 tons. As much as 51.42 tons of banned plastic was seized in March. In the past three months, the civic body had conducted 34,935 raids and issued 1,26,372 notices to the shop owners.