Civic body seizes 8,500 kg of single-use plastic bags

The City Corporation on Tuesday seized around 8,500 kg of plastic bags having thickness below 50 microns from a transporter near Wall Tax Road. The raids began at 8 am and went on till afternoon.

Officials say the plastic bags were brought from Salem

CHENNAI:The City Corporation on Tuesday seized around 8,500 kg of plastic bags having thickness below 50 microns from a transporter near Wall Tax Road. The raids began at 8 am and went on till afternoon.

According to Corporation officials, these plastic bags have been brought from Salem and were on their way to retailers across the zone and city. The movement of large shipments of plastic bags in the Royapuram zone had fallen on the radar of zonal officials who waited for the best time to strike and make the seizure.

“For over a month we have been following the trails of these shipments. The flow stopped during the lorry strike so we had to wait for the shipments to start coming again,” said S Vasudevan, sanitary officer for the Royapuram zone, explaining that the lorry strike had greatly increased the demand for single-use plastic bags in the zone. According to Corporation officials, this is the first shipment after the lorry strike, which explains the abnormal quantum of seizure.

Manufacturing and promoting the use of plastic bags with a thickness below 50 microns is a violation of the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling ) Rules of 2016.“Since he is a transporter, we haven’t fined him but we are narrowing down on retailers, middlemen, and the manufacturer,” said Vasudevan, adding that more raids will be conducted to ensure single-use plastic bags aren’t used.

A Central Pollution Control Board study in 60 Indian cities conducted in 2015 shows that Chennai generates 429.39 tonnes of plastic waste every day. This is 9.5 per cent of the total municipal solid waste generated.

Single-use plastic bags along with single-use water bottles are most common trash found in water bodies in the city because they cannot be recycled or fetch little at scrap shops. Plastic thins down with each recycling process and those with thickness below 50 microns cannot be recycled. With less than 9 per cent of all plastic produced since 1950 having been recycled, single-use plastic constitutes a major chunk, which ends up in the ocean.

429.39 tonnes of plastic generated in city every day

9.5% of the total municipal solid waste generated