CAIT decides not to use 'single use plastic bags' from 2nd october

New Delhi, Sep 27 (KNN) The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has decided not to use single use plastic bags from 2nd October across the country.

''The consumers are advised to bring their own cloth bag or other bag for shopping. Henceforth, no single use plastic bags will be available with the shopkeepers,'' CAIT said in a release.

Meanwhile, CAIT also suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should launch the campaign on 2nd October from Delhi collecting single use plastic bags as donation and pledge not to use the same ever.

CAIT National President B C Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that the CAIT has already launched a nationwide campaign from 1st September, 2019 for making traders and people aware about the impact of plastic usage on environment and has advised both traders to use alternatives of plastics in their shops and prompt their customers also to use cloth or jute bags or other alternatives while shopping.

The traders across Country are now ready to bring vision of Prime Minister into reality from 2nd October.

Both Bhartia and Khandelwal while asking Industry bodies like FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM & PHD Chamber said that the traders are part of supply chain that distributes goods from Manufacturers or place of origin to last mile consumers.

''The business community is under obligation to deliver goods in whatever packaging it receives from Manufacturer or from the supply chain. It is noteworthy that most of the products being used by the consumers are packed in single use plastic. Therefore, it is beyond the control of traders to restrict usage of single use plastic at the end of Manufacturer or at place of origin,'' the release read.

''To stop complete usage of single use plastic as per the call of Prime Minister it is more important that the role of Industry bodies being representative body of Industries can supplement the call of Prime Minister by advising their member Industry not to use single use of plastic either in their production line or in packing of finished goods and rather use other alternatives,'' the release further read.

Bhartia and Khandelwal said that it is a fact that if single use plastic is not used at production/ finishing stage or goods are not packed in single use plastic at the origin itself and are packed in alternative packaging automatically the usage of single use of plastic will come down to a drastic low level as the traders in supply chain will deliver the goods to consumers in alternative packaging.

The trade leaders further said that by collaborating with call of Prime Minister both trade and industry bodies can make it a mass movement to fight against pollution.

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