Plastic poses as a great threat to our environment. We are choking our water bodies and piling up the plastic waste on land by dumping the plastic waste recklessly. Given the harm it can do to us, it is an issue that requires pressing consideration. Many of our politicians wanted to take action on this issue.
One among them is our KTR, he expressed his disappointment against the use of plastic water bottles in his own office and took a bold move on this Wednesday.
The Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department issued guidelines to ban the use of single-use-plastic materials i.e Disposable plastics in all Municipal Bodies. This issue was discussed in the review meeting held on June 12th in GHMC in which Hon’ble IT Minister KTR instructed the officials in ULBs (Urban Local Bodies) to stop using plastic bottled water & other such plastic items in or around the 'State Civic Offices' (All Municipal Bodies across the state).
The list of items that are banned from using : 1. Plastic water bottles/ tetra bottles. 2. Single use straws 3. Plastic/ Styrofoam tea cups / containers etc. 4. Plastic below 50 micron plastic or plastic coasted items. 5. And any other forms of single use/ banned plastic.( grocery bags, cutlery etc)
Actually, a 2016 report by the Central Pollution Control Board showed that most Indian states have not yet implemented the Plastic Waste Management Rules of 2011, which state the appropriate frameworks to guarantee the isolation of plastic waste and in addition crackdowns on unregistered plastic assembling units.
This initiative taken by Mr.KTR is commendable, as he not only took an action on the issue but also he is spreading awareness about the harmful effects caused by the extensive plastic use. This Ban also promotes sustainable environmental practices. As a great man once said- ‘Change should come from within’.
Here is the official note:
Some Horrifying Facts about Plastic Usage: - About one trillion single-use plastic bags are used annually across the globe. That’s nearly 2 million every minute. - More than half a million plastic straws are used every day around the world. - Over half of the world’s plastic thrown out in 2015 was plastic packaging. That’s over 141 million metric tons. - The world uses 500 billion plastic cups every year. - 16 Billion disposable coffee cups are used each year. These are coated with plastic to laminate the inside and use plastic lids.
Although now the ban just applies to the Municipal offices across the state, we hope it would be soon applicable to all the citizens across the state.
