A survey across 11 states and two Union Territories across the Himalayan region in the country works on the issue of waste suggests that while most people were aware of the existence of plastic bag ban in their areas, most believe the ban has not succeeded.
The report published by Roshan Rai, Priyadarshinee Shrestha, and Rajendra P. Gurung, suggests that only 19 percent felt the ban was highly effective, while 82 percent of the respondents were aware of the existence of the plastic bag ban in their region.
In Bengal, plastic carry bags are banned in Darjeeling and the Sunderbans; While Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, and Uttarakhand have imposed a complete ban on plastic bags. Sikkim had started the banning of plastic in 1998.
“A new line of bags labeled biodegradable, compostable, and oxo-biodegradable contains more plastic. Their use was found to be more in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Tripura, and J&K. The survey revealed that thin plastic bags of less than 50 microns are widely found, with 52 percent of respondents indicating this. Single-use plastics, intended to be used only once and thrown away or recycled, like grocery bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups still dominate in terms of presence.
Shopkeepers charging users extra for plastic bags could be a way to discourage their use, but 45 percent of respondents said there were no charges.
