Jamshedpur, June 26: The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in a letter to Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav has urged to extend last date of imposition of ban on single-use plastic to one year from 1st July, 2022 but has also urged to constitute a joint committee of senior government officials and representatives of stakeholder with a time bound mandate of suggesting equitable alternatives to single use plastic so that without any disruption, the country stop using single use plastic.
The letter is the outcome of deliberations held on this critical issue by more than 100 trade leaders from all states of the Country at a two days national conference of CAIT being held at Nagpur in Maharashtra.
CAIT National Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal and national secretary Suresh Sonthalia said that undoubtedly the pollution of environment is a big threat to human civilisation and corrective steps are much needed to protect the environment. However, before any imposition of ban, it is all the more necessary to keep equivalent alternatives ready to shift the usage.
Khandelwal and Sonthalia said that it should not be forgetter that over a longer period, the single use plastic has emerged a much bigger industry giving employment to lakhs of people in the Country and having an annual turnover of more than Rs 60 thousand crores. Banks and financial institutions have a great stake in single use plastic industry and in a situation of a complete ban without providing any equitable alternative will have massive destruction in a working vertical of retail trade of India.
CAIT said that since traders are the first connect point for the consumers and the public, they will have to face the consequences though the traders selling the products are acting merely as a component of the supply chain making things available for the public. However, 98% of single use plastic is used by MNCs, Corporate Manufacturers, producers, e-commerce companies, warehousing hubs, Industry and other types of production units either in their production line or packaging of finished goods. The traders are under compulsion to sell goods in whatever packing they receive from the Manufacturer or source of origin. Unless and until, these Companies and manufacturing units are not compelled to stop use of single use plastic either in production line or in packing of finished goods, there will always be an occasion for usage of single use plastic at the consumer end. Therefore, effective steps should be taken to bind such manufacturers or place of origin to stop using single use plastic. Likewise equivalent alternate carry bags in place of plastic carry bags may also be made available so that plastic carry bags are not used for holding the goods. The ban on single use plastic can be successful if it is carry out in phases.
