KOCHI: The City Corporation has decided to strictly enforce the ban on plastic carry bags with thickness of less than 50 microns from April 1 as the increasing menace of plastic waste is becoming unmanageable for the civic administration.
The decision is in the wake of the National Green Tribunal’s recent directive to the civic body to pay hefty fine for lapses in waste management at Brahmapuram solid waste treatment plant.
The local body had imposed a similar ban in 2016 but failed to enforce it.
During a recent council meeting, members from both ruling and the opposition benches demanded enforcement of the ban saying that people still dump garbage in plastic carry bags along roadsides and open spaces.
Efforts to enforce the ban failed for want of micrometers, the equipment with which the thickness of the bags are to be gauged, according to sources at Corporation. Without the equipment, the officials cannot impose fine on the offenders as details of the bags including thickness have to be recorded. The civic body’s move to introduce holograms on plastic bags to curb its use also failed to take off.
The 73 divisions of the Corporation, five municipalities and three panchayats are completely dependent on the Brahmapuram plant where huge quantities of non-biodegradable garbage are already dumped. More than 90,000 tonnes of plastic waste is piled up at Brahmapuram.
