Bihar govt bid to promote use of cloth bags

PATNA: The Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) will launch a campaign in four vegetable markets in the city from Tuesday onwards to promote use of cloth bags. At least 6,000 cloth bags will be distributed free of cost among people in vegetable markets at Kankerbagh, Kadamkuan, Anta Ghat and Mithapur as part of the campaign.

“Single-use plastic bags are commonly used in vegetable markets. By introducing cloth bags, we are trying to provide an alternative to plastic bags before the government completely bans them,” BSPCB chairman Ashok Kumar Ghosh said.

The state government had recently issued a draft notification, seeking feedback from stakeholders on enforcing plastic ban in the state. “Most of the feedbacks we have received so far are positive. Some people have even suggested enactment of a stringent law to ban plastic,” Ghosh said, adding the BSPCB is also planning to rope in NGOs to manufacture cloth and paper bags.

The board will hold a meeting with owners of major stores at Bihar Chamber of Commerce and

Industries

on Monday to discuss the issue. “The store owners will be requested not to use plastic bags. Once the plastic ban is enforced, we are sure people will not mind paying a minimal amount for buying paper or cloth bags,” Ghosh said.

The BSPCB is also planning to write letters to all medical colleges and universities, requesting them to discourage use of plastic bags. Only plastic bags above 50 microns of thickness, which are being used to dispose of biomedical waste, will be exempted from the ban under the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016.

“Letters have been sent to more than 400 schools as well to help the government in implementing plastic ban. The board will seek help from principal secretaries of commercial taxes and education departments to implement the ban,” BSPCB public relations officer Birendra Kumar said.

Meanwhile, a team of four officials from BSPCB, urban development and environment and forest department will visit Maharashtra next week to study successful implementation of ban on single-use plastic items in the western state.