Ministry of Environment and Forests'(MoEF) new plastic waste management rule is likely to result in a 30-50 per cent dip in demand for plastic carry bags in Gujarat. In the long run, however, the move to raise the cap for thickness of plastic carry bags to 40 microns will increase the polymer consumption and benefit the overall polymer processing industry in the state.
Gujarat based small carry bag manufacturing units are perhaps the ones that would be most severely affected due to the new MoEF rule, as Gujarat is yet to implement a pan-state cap of 40 micron for carry bags. Most other states in the country have already implemented the thickness cap following a draft notification by the MoEF in September 2009 that asked for a ban on plastic bags below 40 micron thickness.Some of the states which increased the minimum thickness of plastic carry bags to even higher limits of 40, 50, or 70 microns, include Goa (40 micron), Himachal Pradesh ( 70 micron), Maharashtra (50 micron), Meghalaya ( 40 micron), Punjab (30 micron), Chandigarh (30 micron), West Bengal (40 micron ), Kerala (30 micron).
Now, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has announced the Plastic Waste (management & handling) Rules 2011 on February 7, which among other things, stated, "Plastic carry bags shall not be less than 40 microns in thickness. Under the earlier Rules, the minimum thickness was 20 microns. Several state governments in the meanwhile, had stipulated varying minimum thickness. It is now expected that 40 microns norms will become the uniform standard to be followed across the country.The minimum size (of 8x12 inches) for the plastic carry bags prescribed under the earlier Rules has been dispensed with."
A small scale plastic carry bag manufacturer said "A 40 micron bag costs around Rs 2-3 compared to a 20 micron one which is priced around 75 paise. Small retailers like medicine shops, vegetable and fruit hawkers, milk outlets that now seek cheap carry bags that are 15-20 micron thick, will stop sourcing from us. We fear a 30-50 per cent dip in demand hence."
Shailesh Patel, president, Gujarat State Plastic Manufacturers Association (GSPMA) said that once the Centre has made it mandatory all states would have to now implement the norms. "In Gujarat we have close to 300-400 carry bag manufacturing units, and they would now start converting to making 40 micron bags. While this would almost double the cost of production as the polymer consumption would double, it would not require any significant change in the technology used to manufacture carry bags.", he explained.
A kilogram of polymer that is used to make carry bags now costs around Rs 80-85, and the finished product or carry bags cost around Rs 100-125 per kg, the GSPMA informed. The size of the carry bag making industry in the state is around Rs 300 crore.
Industry insiders informed that as neighbouring states like Rajasthan and Maharashtra already have cap on making plastic bags below 40 and 50 micron thickness respectively, many units in Gujarat and Daman, Silvassa region cater to the demand in these states as they export 20 micron carry bags through porous borders.
"Some units also set up temporary manufacturing units near the borders to take advantage of the situation.", said a carry bag manufacturer from Daman on grounds of anonymity. "There would be a loss of business on that front as well as Gujarat units convert to making 40 micron bags.", he added. At the same time, the polymer processing industry felt that as the consumption of polymer would increase to make thicker bags, the overall impact on the industry would be positive in the longrun.
Jigish Doshi, ex-chairman of the GSPMA said, “As the demand for polymer will rise commensurately with the rise in thickness, the overall impact on the plastic processing industry would be positive. However,the immediate impact on the SMEs would be that of loss of business and, in turn, loss of employment.”
