People use plastic as no substitute available: study

Everyone knows that plastic is banned, yet they use it as— according to a study—they have no alternatives available.

According to the study, while 85% of people were aware of the ban on plastic, nearly 90% knew about its harmful effect on the environment.

Velocity MR, a market research and analysis company conducted the study on 3,600 people across metropolises like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune.

About 44% of people claimed that they faced problems due to the ban on plastic, primarily due to a lack of or costly alternatives available for shopping or garbage disposal.

However, 8 out of 10 respondents were open to the idea of reusable bags and alternatives. The study also revealed that 7 out of 10 respondents believed that the ban is only on the usage of plastic carry bags and not on other variants of plastic.

Jasal Shah, managing director & CEO of Velocity MR said that plastic is banned in 25 states in India but 15,000 tonnes of plastic is still procured from cities on a daily basis. "Plastic has become more affordable compared to the alternatives and authorities need to take initiatives to provide decent alternatives acceptable to all," he said.