Mangalore, November 15: The district administration and Mangalore City Corporation have jointly requested the people to do away with plastic carry bags and cooperate with the MCC in garbage collection in view of the ban on plastic in the city.
Addressing media persons at a press meet at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Mangalore on Thursday, Dr. Harish Kumar, Commissioner, MCC, said that since the City Corporation is coming forward in terms of door to door garbage collection, people must hand over the garbage as well as plastic waste in houses to the MCC rather than throwing them away on the street.
“We request people to give all their plastic and garbage to us. We will recycle them. Please do not throw them on the street”, he said, while pointing out that separate collection of garbage and plastic from houses will be implemented by the MCC within December 31. Dr. Kumar also said that efforts to reduce bins in the city are also being made since there is a Supreme Court directive that cities should be bin-less.
Dr. N S Chennappa Gowda, Deputy Commissioner, DK, said that people are still disposing off their garbage in plastic bags which should be done away with. “With the proper implementation of segregation of waste and door to door garbage collection, this will decrease. At the moment 60-70% of garbage given by people contains plastic”, he said, while pointing out that it has become difficult for MCC to segregate waste at the compost plant at Pachanady besides stating that the waste tied in plastic bags which does not decompose, affects the quality of compost produced at the plant.
Stating that the ban on plastic has already come into effect from 1st of this month, Mr. Gowda said that 30-40% of plastic usage has come down. Although it was made clear to the plastic manufacturers that production of plastic carry bags below 40 microns is prohibited, it was found during raids that they were still being manufactured and sold. The manufacturers were given 15 days additional time and the deadline has ended today, the Deputy Commissioner said, while informing that from now on, 5 teams will travel across the city in 5 vehicles including 2 home guards and one representative from the MCC to check sale and use of plastic and impose penalties. “They will also warn the public. For the first time, a fine of Rs. 100 would be imposed. If there is continuous occurrence of offence, Section 291 of IPC would be implemented and a higher fine penalty would be imposed. The fines would be levied just to create awareness among the masses and not to burden them”, he said.
Mr. Gowda also said that he has spoken to concerned authorities about looking for an alternative for packaging milk which are currently sold in plastic packets.
Comments
Add new comment