A Delegation of the Federation of Industrial & Commercial Organization (FICO) under the Leadership of Sh. Rajeev Jain General Secretary FICO and President Laghu Udyog Bharti Ludhiana met Sh. Pankaj Sharma Member Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and strongly demanded to allow manufacturing of Bio-Degradable Carry Bags & Single Use Items to save the Environment. It is notable that more than 400 units in Punjab are on the verge of bankruptcy. The Delegation explained :
1. Bio-Degradable Products as per IS 17899 T : 2022:
The Central Pollution Control Board has allowed Compostable Plastic Products to be manufactured in India even when in our country the De-Composting facilities for plastic products are extremely rare. It is rather requested that Bio-Degradable Products as per Indian Standard IS 17899 T : 2022 must be allowed so that the ill-effects of plastic decomposition can be minimized, as the developed countries like United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and 90 other countries are using Bio-Degradable Products.
2. Glasses for Packed Mineral Water:
There is a scarcity of clean healthy drinkable water for which thousands of industries have been set up to purify the groundwater and pack it in glasses/ bottles, which are hugely used for travel purposes, functions, gatherings, restaurants, etc. Unfortunately, Today the Glasses for Packing Purified Water are banned. Although bottles and other single-use items for the food sector are allowed.
It is requested that glasses for Packed Drinking Water should be allowed and EPR (Extended Producer’s Responsibility) may be imposed. Alternatively, government of Punjab must allow the manufacturing of Bio-Degradable Glasses for the Packing of Water as per Indian Standard IS 17899 T : 2022. If we take a broader view, the quality of the Ground Water of Punjab is poor, and the condition of Ludhiana’s water is worse with an average TDS of 400. The banning of Packed Water will have an after-effect that may lead to a rise in the spread of waterborne diseases due to poor quality of water.
3. Carry Bags & Items:
The Government of India has allowed the Manufacturing of Plastic Carry bags with a minimum of 75 Microns, but the Government of Punjab has banned the manufacturing of any kind of plastic carry bags. Whereas the carry bags and single-use items manufactured in Delhi, Gujrat and other areas of the country are easily available in our market. Imposing a ban and making people out of business is not a solution, rather government should allow the manufacturing of Bio-Degradable Carry Bags with a Minimum of 50 Micros.
Further, Punjab Prison Department is already manufacturing Bio-Degradable Carry bags, since 2018, which proves that the government is accepting Bio-Degradable items. So, the industry should also be allowed to manufacture Bio-Degradable Bags & Single Use Items, which do not have any ill-effect on the environment. As Bonafide citizens of Punjab, we request the government to make all the bags Bio-Degradable compulsory whether it is commercial or industrial.
4. Industrial R&D & Industrial Testing Labs:
As per the Draft Policy Point No. 5.1.15; there is a provision for establishing industrial Testing labs, keeping in view, the environmental perspective it is requested to establish labs for testing Bio-Degradable Material by installing XRF Machines which can detect the presence of the Bio-Degradable additive in the Items. This will help in processing the immediate identification of the material.
Amongst Present were Sh. Manmohan Singh, Sh. Ankush Kumar, Sh. Mohinder Jain.
