Ahmedabad, May 27 (KNN) The fate of more than 500 plastic-manufacturing units, which are mainly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is at risk and the municipal bodies in the state have sought blanket ban on manufacturing of plastic bags of below 50 microns in thickness.

Rajiv Raval, Past President, Gujarat State Plastic Manufacturers Association (GSPMA) told KNN, “The Central Government has issued a notification in March this year to ban manufacturing of plastic bags of below 50 micros thickness.

He said the municipalities of three cities –Vadodara, Rajkot and Surendra Nagar issued notifications in May banning the manufacturing, stocking, selling and use of plastic items of any thickness.

On May 1, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation, reportedly, issued a notification declaring that manufacturing, stocking, selling and use of plastic items of any thickness would be banned with immediate effect. Following the same footsteps, on May 8, the Vadodara commissioner issued a similar notification, in retrospective effect from May 1.

The entrepreneur, who is also the Vice President of Plast India Foundation, said that the association has given a representation to the government and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) on the issue.

“Right now we are not approaching the court but we are waiting for the response to our representation. After the response comes, we will take the action accordingly,” Raval said.

He further pointed that, “Plastic bags are not harmful at all if disposed of properly. The problem arises due to non-awareness of dustbin usage. If somebody is putting food, sanitary napkins and diapers in poly bags then they are creating the problems not the plastic bags. If you use it in a proper manner by keeping disposing it in dustbin, there are NGOs who can collect it from each home and the society can get the money too.”

He said that the ban on plastic manufacturing would increase the usage of paper bags immensely which again is a big threat to the environment as it requires lots of trees to be cut.

After the notifications, approximately 100 units in both cities have stopped production, leading to concerns of unemployment for nearly 1,200 workers employed at these plants. (KNN Bureau)