The shopkeepers in Delhi have been complaining about the lack of alternatives to the plastic bag.
Jatinder Shroff, director at Nutech Packagings said: "This is a welcome step." Discussing the availability of alternatives in the market, Shroff was positive that the ban augurs well for the print industry because paper bags will be used. The challenges with paper bags are higher price, durability, load capacity, especially for wet objects."
Rohit Rajpal, CEO of Syndicate Binders said: "Everyone will benefit except plastic bag manufacturers. Ban is all right but what is the alternative? We do not have a manufacturing facility to produce paper bags."
A penalty ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1-lakh for violators of the ban on plastic bags is being proposed.
The government has decided to repeal the Delhi Degradable Plastic Bags (Manufacturing, Sales and Usage) and Garbage (Controlled) Act, 2000.
The All India Plastic Industries Association (AIPIA) said the shutting of the units would mean a closure of business worth Rs 700-crore per year. The president of the AIPIA, Ravi K Aggarwal, said: "The problem is disposal of the plastic bags and not the production of bags."
More than 100 plastic bag manufacturing factories in Delhi may have to shut shop, following the Delhi government’s decision.
Printing firms welcome the ban on plastic bag manufacturing in Delhi
The Delhi cabinet passed a bill on 4 April, 2011 to ban production of plastic bags. A ban on use of plastic bags was notified earlier in Delhi on January 7, 2009 but failed due to violations, which were reported.
