Dreaming reality

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: The plastic industry has found a heavyweight defender against the state ban in IIT-Powai director and technocrat Ashok Misra. “Polyethylene per se is not harmful to the environment, the way it has been made out to be. In fact, the discovery of plastic has been one of the greatest gifts that chemistry has offered to mankind in the 20th century,’’ Misra said.
The IIT director said banning of plastic bags will not serve a purpose, as in the long run, this would cause greater destruction of natural resources in the country. “Other options, like depending on paper bags, will definitely destroy forest cover.’’

‘We cannot do away with plastic’


Mumbai: IIT-Powai director Ashok Misra has pointed out that banning thin plastic bags will not even solve the garbage problem. “The thin bags are economically more viable and it can carry more weight compared to any other bag of the same size and cost,’’ said Mishra, a chemical engineer.
However, he said the manner in which garbage is disposed of in plastic bags should be stopped. “People staying in flats dump leftover food items in plastic bags and throw them into garbage bins. This practice should be stopped. Like in the west, we should have two dustbins, one for dry garbage and another for wet garbage.’’
And what about the huge mounds of plastic that dot the landscape? “The polyethylene bags are lighter and hence they seem to be everywhere, flying around. There are also bottles beneath the lakes which has not come to the notice of authorities. People throw away bags as these bags do not fetch any value,’’ he rationalised.
Plastic, Misra, points out plays a major role in daily life. “Even if we ban plastic bags, what about the hundreds of other plastic items like toothbrushes, combs, bottles, computer spare parts, shoes with plastic soles that we throw out without much care,’’ he asked. Misra even dispelled the popular notion that carrying food in polyethylene bags was harmful and toxic. “The plastic bags that come in the food grade category do not pose any health risk. Even if your plastic bottle used for drinking shrinks a little bit when hot water is poured in it, it does not pose a health hazard,’’ he said. Members of the Indian Centre for Plastic in the Environment, who had organised the seminar, said plastic constitutes just 0.75 per cent of solid waste generated in the city.
“Strict implementation of existing laws like banning bags below the stipulated microns and introducing the printing of the manufacturer’s name with declaration of the thickness and recycling mark are ways to deal with the problem,’’ said Mahesh Shah, PlastIndia Foundation. TNN

My views on this:-
The IIT Powai director's comments essentially reflect reality in the sense that plastic is an integral part of our lives and it is extremely difficult to stop using it.
But at the same time the impact of polyethene bags on the environment and on human health has to be acknowledged.

What is surprising about this are the stray remarks like "polyethylene is not harmful to the environment per se" and "depending upon paper bags will destroy forest cover". I'm sure even scienific data goes against this. Polyethene bags are toxic and extremely harmful to the environment. The following study proves the toxicity of HDPE:- http://www.ecologycenter.org/iptf/plastic_types/HDPESCIENCE.html

The good part about his comments is that he acknowledges that plastic is a problem, at least the way it is handled now.