Meet calls for total ban on plastic bags

Thiruvananthapuram: Participants of a workshop organised here on Saturday called for a total ban on plastic bags in view of the failure to enforce the ban on plastic bags of thickness below 30 microns.

Environmental activists and producers of eco-friendly products from across the country participated in the workshop organised by Thanal and the Zero Waste Centre in connection with International Plastic Bag Free Day.

They said the failure to enforce the ban on carry bags had shrunk the market for paper bags and other substitute products. This had led to a crisis for the manufacturers and minimised job opportunities. They recommended a total ban on plastic bags to check the environmental and public health problems caused by the material, on the lines of the regulation in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu.

Inaugurating the workshop, Sugathakumari, poet and environmental activist, called upon the government to avoid the use of plastic at all official functions and go in for eco-friendly substitutes instead. She urged the City Corporation and the State Sanitation Mission to enforce the regulation on plastic bags.