Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Nov. 21: With the Nagaland government’s December deadline to make the state plastic-free drawing near, many must be wondering if implementation is possible. Officials are optimistic though that it can be achieved with cooperation and efforts from individuals, communities and authorities.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has declared that the state will be plastic-free by December. He said at the recent Tokhu Emong festival that INR 10 lakh each had already been allotted to the districts from the CM’s corpus fund to promote bamboo products like bags, baskets and containers as an alternative to plastic products.
During an interaction with Eastern Mirror, commissioner-secretary to chief minister Abhishek Singh informed that all the municipal bodies and town councils have been asked to ensure that single-use plastic is banned. He added that alternatives are being introduced through the CM’s corporate fund.
When asked about the implementation of plastic-free programme, he said that “it is in the process of implementation” and that the Urban Development and Municipals Affairs department will be responsible for it. He said that lots of behavioral changes are required to make the state plastic-free and mentioned how the Kohima Municipal Corporation and several other villages have resolved to ban single-use plastic. Further, all districts have been directed to use alternative bags.
“Ultimately, with the participation of community and municipal bodies, the government will ensure that the state is plastic-free,” Singh said.
When asked if there are specific set of rules to implement this campaign, he said, “It’s not a question of rules; if we make a rule there has to be a penalty and enforcement will become difficult.”
The authorities are working on making the state plastic-free through campaigns and guideline that restricts use of single-use plastic. Singh assured that “We will make sure that everyone adopts it instead of forcing through a rule.”
Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2018
The Plastic Waste Management Rules (PWMR), 2016, which was later amended in 2018, was published by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. According to the rule, waste management is mandatory for all waste generators, local bodies, Gram Panchayats, manufacturers, importers, and producers.
Under the PWMR, the ministry had furnished certain criteria prohibiting the use of plastic, which include carry bag made of virgin or recycled plastic shall not be less than 50 microns in thickness; natural shade or pigments as per IS Code; carry bags made of recycled plastics shall not be used for packaging food stuff; sachets using plastic material shall not be used for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco, and pan masala; and plastic sheet, which is not an integral part of multilayered packaging and cover made of plastic sheet used for packaging, wrapping the commodity shall not be less than fifty microns in thickness except where the thickness of such plastic sheets impair the functionality of the product.
The Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) administrator, Kovi Meyase, told that it won’t be easy to achieve complete plastic-free region within the limited time frame. He said: “Plastic-free per se, would practically be hard to achieve because till such time the government comes out with a policy/guidelines, the central guidelines for allowing use of 50 microns and above may have to continue.”
He admitted that at this point of time, alternatives are not readily available to substitute plastic. “It is however not going to deter nor discourage us from pursuing our intentions for a plastic-free town. The pursuit will continue,” he added.
Earlier, the additional director and head of department of Municipal Affairs, Dr. Toshimanen Ozukum, informed that public awareness campaigns would be organised in all the towns. He added that most people are already aware of plastic pollution.
Following the declaration of the government to make the state free from plastic waste, various areas, communities, NGOs, and individuals have come forward to fight the menace of plastic pollution.
After a meeting with all its stakeholders on Oct. 31, the KMC formed Kohima Green Team comprising of ward council and other NGOs to create awareness on plastic pollution through campaigns and sensitization programmes. Campaign against the use of plastic has been going on in all the 19 wards of Kohima since Nov. 7. The New Market Area Panchayat has directed the public and shopkeepers in the area not to use plastic for wrapping pan, tamul, sweets, etc, with effect from Nov. 21.
It may be mentioned that Kuda B Khel in Dimapur, Sishunu village under Tseminyu sub-division, and Yachem village in Phom district were declared as plastic-free areas in October this year.
