JOIN USKarnataka State Plastic Association on Wednesday claimed that about 70,000 people employed directly in the plastic industry and one lakh more people indirectly employed in more than 750 units in Karnataka, including 450 in Bengaluru, would lose their jobs with the blanket ban on plastic.
Addressing hundreds of protesters who took out a protest rally in the City on Wednesday, president of the association V Vijay Kumar said the State government’s notification on imposing a total ban on plastic carry bags, plastic plates, cups, spoons, cling films and sheets was shocking.
“We have borrowed money from banks and financial institutions. The total ban will affect those working in the industry,” he said.
“The government has not taken our opinion. No stakeholder from the plastic industry was called for a meeting before the ban was imposed. Hence, we have gone to court,” he said, saying that no neighbouring state had imposed a blanket ban on plastic. He also sought to know why there were some exemptions from a ban on plastic.
“There are flex boards about politicians put up everywhere in the City. KMF and big companies use plastic for packaging their products. Why such a biased rule?” he said. Kumar also took a dig at the notification, which states: “It has been observed that plastic waste blocks gutters, sewers and drains, resulting in serious environmental problems.”
‘No waste management’
This is baseless. It only highlights the authorities’ failure to manage waste. Government bodies should learn to segregate waste, he said. He said discontinuing plastic bags was not a solution and would rather aggravate the problem.
“The government should insist that even small bags are above 40 micron thickness in keeping with the new Plastic Waste Management Act 2015 adopted by the Centre.