mid-day test drive: Plastic bags banned in Mumbai? Says who?

mid-day's survey of six big commercial areas shows that the special enforcement squad has disappeared, the deadly material has made a comeback, with vendors brazenly handing out plastic bags

Three months after the plastic ban was introduced with much fanfare, along with the threat of those men and women in blue on the lookout for anything plastic in your hands, one can still find plastic bags everywhere one turns. mid-day reporters went out into the city on September 18-19 to see just how effective (or ineffective) the ban really is.

While the blue squad, as Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) likes to call them, is missing in action, the ubiquitous plastic, that momentarily disappeared, has made an insidious comeback, with street vendors in many parts of the city handing them out brazenly, and the public more than willing to accept them.

Vegetables in plastic bags

"Dhanda nahin hota hai, bhai, plastic ke bina," is the vendors' whine, when asked why they continue to hand out plastic bags. An alternative to plastic does not seem to have been part of BMC's plan while implementing the ban.

mid-day conducted a Test Drive in six areas of the city and found that while in a few places vendors managed to toe the line on the ban, in most, plastic was very much in use.

Plastic still rules in Borivli. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

There seemed to be no fear of the law or the steep Rs 5,000 fine, thanks to the invisible people in blue who are supposed to enforce it.

We also saw a lot of citizens using their own cloth bags, proving that with a little interest on the part of the civic authorities, the plastic ban could very well become the city's biggest success. Nevertheless, here is what we found:

Plastic bags are handed out by the dozen here. Pic/Nimesh Dave

Dadar
There were as many plastic bags to be seen here as there were flowers, fruits and vegetables. The plastic ban has not been enforced at all here ever since it came into force in June. Both shopkeepers and customers brazenly flaunted their plastic bags.

Hawkers have their wares already packed inside plastic bags. Pics/Ashish Raje

This reporter bought flowers, Bael leaves and fruits from four separate vendors and all of them were happily packed in a plastic bag each. Sheela Suresh Tayde, 50, selling an assortment of marigold and hibiscus flowers in plastic bags, said she was aware of the ban. "We had started wrapping flowers in newspaper, but then the BMC officials stopped coming to check and everyone went back to plastic bags," she said.

Flower seller, Lokesh Yadav, 32, said people have no choice but to continue using plastic bags. "Everyone here says we can use plastic bags for another three months and BMC officials who visit the market don't say anything to us either. They shouldn't stop us from using these bags without giving us an alternative. If someone wants to buy mutton, should they take their pressure cookers along?" Yadav asked.

Pic/Ashish Raje

Customer Sujata Devendra, 48, from Nalasopara, had come with several cloth bags. "If using plastic bags is harmful to the environment then shopkeepers should stop using them. We can all carry bags from home and reuse them," she said adding that she also has to carry plastic bags around as cloth bags get wet in the rain.

Navi Mumbai, Thane
Plastic bags are having a field day in the markets in Panvel, APMC and Thane. Shopkeepers and vendors continue handing them out as there is no one to keep a check on its use here.

It's the same story at Thane, too, where plastic can be spotted everywhere. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

In Vashi, however, the ban is being religiously followed. Not a single shop inside the market gave out plastic carry bags. At Thane's Jambhali Naka market, all fruit and vegetable vendors handed out plastic bags if we asked for them. When this reporter asked a fruit vendor for a cloth bag, he said, "Just use this plastic bag, nothing will happen, don't be scared."

The farsan shop in Thane had no problem packaging items in a plastic bag. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

Ragpickers are the happiest about the failure of the ban. Jaya Ghai, a ragpicker from Thane, said, "I told my friends not to worry about the plastic ban because I know people need it and won't give it up so easily. For a month we faced problems because of the plastic ban, but for the past 15 days, the thin plastic bags have returned."

Borivli
Forgot your cloth bag at home? No problem. Vendors here are more than happy to hand you a banned plastic bag from their stash. It is evident that vendors here are yet to see the law-enforcing men in blue. While some brazenly hand out the bags, some have hidden them under baskets full of their goods.

The flower vendor happily hands over her wares inside a plastic bag. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

These hawkers hand out plastic bags only to those who have forgotten to bring their own. Flower and gajra sellers opposite Borivli station on the west side do not even blink before thrusting flowers into a small plastic bag to give to customers.

A vegetable seller cribbed for a bit before pulling out a plastic bag from a roll in his pocket, when the reporter pretended to not have a bag of her own. Inside the BMC market though, vendors didn't care if you walked away without buying anything. There was no way they were giving away plastic bags.

A vendor has banned plastic bags stuffed into his pocket at Borivli West. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

"You may be buying something worth R300, but I will have to shell out Rs 5,000 in fine. It is not worth it," said a shopkeeper.

Andheri
At Andheri, the absence of any fear of the law was evident in the plastic bags placed right on top of vendors' carts. They could not even be bothered to hide them. This was spotted in the area outside Apna Bazaar in Andheri West, and in Andheri Market near Andheri station.

No bag, no problem. A vendor hands over a plastic bag full of things that the reporter just bought. Pic/Nimesh Dave

While the plastic bags are not given to everyone, they are willingly handed out to those who have 'forgotten' to bring their own bags.

When this reporter bought some tomatoes from a vendor at Andheri market, he happily packed them in a banned plastic bag because she did not have her own bag.

Everything that the reporter bought was handed to her in separate plastic bags. Pic/Nimesh Dave

When she asked him if he was not afraid of being fined, he assured her that 'nothing would happen. A vegetable vendor had the exact same thing to say. No one here has seen the men in blue.

Crawford
Vendors at one of the biggest markets in the city seemed to have some fear of the R5,000 fine. However, shops were still selling their stock of the banned garbage bags. Usage of the plastic bags to bag wares has stopped completely at the market, most likely because it is about a kilometre from the BMC headquarters and the enforcement staff in blue drops by every single day.

People seen with plastic bags outside Crawford Market. Vendors seen trying to offload their stock of banned garbage bags. Pic/Suresh Karkera

This reporter, while buying items from various shops at the market, asked for plastic bags saying she had forgotten to carry her own bag, but vendors refused to give her plastic bags point blank.

A fruit seller said, "BMC officials come to the market thrice every day to check if we are selling our wares in plastic bags. We can't afford to shell out R5,000 in fine. We don't even make that much profit." On the road outside, stalls continue to sell banned garbage bags. As per BMC, only bags that have the MPCB stamp certifying them as bio-degradable.

Pic/Suresh Karkera

However, there are bags that declare themselves as 'biodegradable' but have no stamp, creating confusion in the minds of customers. There is no way for an environmentally conscious customer to check the bag's authenticity, except maybe to complain to the BMC. "It is only BMC and MPCB who can check the quality of the plastic. There is no other way to test it. People can come to us to get the quality checked," said a senior BMC official.

Rs 5,000
Fine for using banned plastic bags

Three more months? Not really!
Vendors across the city believe that they have three more months to use the banned plastic bags. The BMC's diktat seems to have been grossly misunderstood. While it has allowed plastic to be used by grocers and kirana shops, the bags handed out by vendors have been banned forever. Its use will certainly see you slapped with a R5,000 fine. No questions asked.

Citizens should help, too: BMC
Nidhi Choudhari, deputy municipal commissioner, said, "We have taken special efforts to keep our municipal markets plastic-free. Action across the city is being taken continuously by three departments — Markets, Licence and Shops and Establishments. Our blue squad has been taking continuous action and religiously making the rounds of various markets. In the case of hawkers, action of confiscating their goods continues.

While it is difficult to completely curb the distribution of plastic, it is important that citizens support us. Even if plastic is given to them, they should refuse to accept it. This is the only way to ensure that the use of plastic is gone from our city and state. Further, we are sure that once the licences are issued to hawkers and vendors, it will become easier for us to act against them as we will have all information on them like we do in the case of shops and licensed vendors operating in municipal markets."

Also Read: Thane: Plastic ban affects ragpickers as they struggle to make ends meet

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