- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, September 07, 2022 : Tripura State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) chairman Prof BK Agarwala on Wednesday said that the plastic carry bags with thickness of 120 microns or higher can be used from December 01 next as before and for that, steps have been initiated to promote non-biodegradable carry bags through the committees of various markets in Agartala city.
TSPCB organized an interaction meet with the members of different market committees in the Agartala Municipal Corporation area on Wednesday in the conference hall of the Board at Gorkhabasti office here in Agartala city. A large number of market committees’ office bearers attended the meet. Tripura Chamber of Commerce secretary Arup Kumar Roy and All Tripura Merchant Association secretary Sanjib Das were present as the guests of honours.
Welcoming the guests and participants, Board’s member secretary Dr Bishu Karmakar requested them to extend helping hands in implementing the ban on single-use-plastics (SUPs) from Tripura. A video was played to explain the harmful effects of single-use-plastics and the alternative items that are available in the market.
Addressing the interaction meet, TSPCB chairman Prof Agarwala elaborated the awareness programme taken up by the pollution control board at different times to make the people sensitive to the harmful effects of using single use plastics. He demonstrated the difference between biodegradable and non-biodegradable plastics and how to differentiate the thickness of plastic bags using a micrometer or thickness gauge.
“From 1st December 2022, plastic carry bags of 120 microns or higher thickness can continue to be used as before but alternatives like cloth bags, jute bags, paper bags or biodegradable carry bags of any thickness can be used”, he added.
Prof Agarwala also explained the consequence of the great increase in petroleum-based plastic bags which are damaging our environment (water, soil, air and living organisms and human health). “During last 40 years, the state population has increased by 2.4 times but there is an increase of more than 10 times in the use of single use plastic items. This poses a great challenge to the environment of a small state like Tripura. This state can not afford any further damage to its environment. Therefore, it is high time that all the people of the state act responsibly to phase out the single use plastics sooner than later”, said Board’s president.
Executive Engineer of TSPCB Manas Mukherjee summed up the meeting and proposed a vote of thanks. On this occasion, PVC boards displaying ‘Say no to Single Use Plastics”, and sample quantities of biodegradable carry bags were distributed among the members of the market committees. Similar programme was held at Khowai on Wednesday conducted by Head of the Office, TSPCB Sushanta Das.
