Campaigns confuse students

new delhi: ''say no to polybags.'' they are non-biodegradable, kill cows and choke drains. to highlight these issues, some voluntary groups and the delhi government started the anti-polybag campaign in schools in 1997. simultaneously, the indian centre for plastics in environment launched a counter-campaign — ''a carrybag is a necessity. and they can be recycled.'' though the anti-polybag campaign had an edge, the second campaign sowed the seeds of confusion in young minds.ironically, the icpe was formed on the recommendation of the national plastics task force, which had been formed by the union ministry of environment and forests to look into the issue of banning polybags. icpe director o p ratra says: ''though the plastic industry finances the icpe, the centre monitors its activities.'' bharati chaturvedi, director of the delhi-based ngo, chintan, says: ''the task force had representatives from the government and the plastic industry. however, no environmentalist was included.'' interestingly, the delhi government is unaware that such a body exists. ''we are not aware of this body. the only difference we had with the union government was that we wanted to discourage the use of polybags,'' says delhi's environment minister a k walia. the icpe has conducted awareness programmes in 25 delhi schools, besides programmes in hyderabad, bhopal and rai bareilly on the increasing use of plastic and how to dispose it properly. the programme also focussed on the fact that polybags are not eco-unfriendly per se, but their improper disposal and littering causes pollution. ratra says: ''the government had been feeding wrong information by saying that polybags are non-recyclable. the problem is not with the product but with its disposal. there are more than 5,000 plastic recycling units in delhi.'' environmentalists, however, differ. ''children performed street plays, visited their neighbourhoods and markets, persuading shopkeepers to minimise use of polybags,'' said anita chaudhry, a teacher with bluebells school. '' the idea is not to say no to all plastics, but only the environmentally hazardous polybags,'' says vatavaran director iqbal malik.