PLASTIC WASTE (MANAGEMENT AND HANDLING) RULES, 2011

Press Note

February 7th, 2011: The Ministry of Environment and Forests has today notified the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 to replace the earlier Recycled Plastics Manufacture and Usage Rules, 1999 (amended in 2003). These Rules have been brought out following detailed discussions and consultations with a wide spectrum of stakeholders including civil society, industry bodies, relevant Central Government Ministries and State Governments.

Releasing the Rules the Minister for Environment and Forests, Mr. Jairam Ramesh said “It is impractical and undesirable to impose a blanket ban on the use of plastic all over the country. The real challenge is to improve municipal solid waste management systems. In addition to the privatization and mechanisation of the municipal solid waste management systems we must be sensitive to the needs and concerns of the lakhs of people involved in the informal sector”

[I] Salient Features
Some of the salient features of the new Rules are:-
. Use of plastic materials in sachets for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala has been banned.
. Under the new Rules, foodstuffs will not be allowed to be packed in recycled plastics or compostable plastics.
. Recycled carry bags shall conform to specific BIS standards.
. Plastic carry bags shall either be white or only with those pigments and colourants which are in conformity with the bar prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). This shall apply expressly for pigments and colourants to be used in plastic products which come in contact with foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals and drinking water.
. 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 8×12 inches) for the plastic carry bags prescribed under the earlier Rules has been dispensed with.
. Carry bags can be made from compostable plastics provided they conform to BIS standards.

One of the major provisions under the new Rules is the explicit recognition of the role of waste pickers. The new Rules require the municipal authority to constructively engage agencies or groups working in waste management including these waste pickers. This is the very first time that such a special dispensation has been made.

[II] Role of Implementing Authority
The Municipal authority shall be responsible for setting up, operationalization and coordination of the waste management system and for performing the associated functions, namely;
. To ensure safe collection, storage, segregation, transportation, processing and disposal of plastic waste;
. To ensure that no damage is caused to the environment during this process;
. To ensure setting up of collection centres for plastic waste involving manufacturers;
. To ensure its channelization to recyclers;
. To create awareness among all stakeholders about their responsibilities;
. To ensure that open burning of plastic waste is not permitted.

[III] Additional Safeguards
. No carry bags shall be made available free of cost to consumers. The municipal authority may determine the minimum price for plastic carry bags.
. The municipal authority may also direct the manufacturers to establish plastic waste collection centres, either collectively or individually, in line with the principle of
‘Extended Producers Responsibility’.
. The new Rules have stipulated provisions for marking or labeling to indicate name, registration number of the manufacturer, thickness and also to indicate whether they
are recycled or compostable.

A link to the MOEF notification, dated 4 February 2011, can be found here.

This short, two-minute video – “Do Nothing” – offers a humorous view for community engagement while serving as a point of discussion for students and youth to take up responsible action in Pondicherry.

Get involved!

Adirai Addresses Gathering

Plastics Ban Awareness Campaign

As enforcement approaches, the Pondicherry government initiated an awareness campaign for its planned ban on the usage of thin plastics (below 50 microns).  The event was led by the Pondicherry Pollution Control Committee with the Department of Science, Technology and Environment.  Invitees reached over 1000 persons in a packed conference hall including students, teachers and concerned citizens all listening intently to government officials in their attempt for environmental improvement and change.

Initiating the program was a young 7^th standard JNV student (Adirai) taking the stage. Her poetic recital on climate change, environmental destruction and plastics enthralled the audience; she left the stage to a standing ovation.  It was a speech indicating the necessity for immediate action, and its importance for her and the future generation.  With weeks remaining on the subsequent ban, awareness needs to be spread across Pondicherry to ensure effective, adequate compliance.

By Sashti Balu

…no person including a shopkeeper, vendor, wholesaler, retailer or trader shall use, sell or store polythene or plastic carry bags of thickness 50 microns or below, of size less than 8 x 12 inches, disposable cups and plates of thickness of 50 microns or below whatsoever, for supply of goods in the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The other plastic carry bags, disposable cups and plates apart from the category mentioned above manufactured, used, sold or stored in the Union Territory of Puducherry shall contain the name of the manufacturing unit, address, thickness and size of the product printed on it.

Let us hope that the Puducherry Pollution Control Committee (PPCC), which is in charge of implementing this notification, is successful in working with the various stakeholders to create awareness and put in place a monitoring system.

The concept for World Oceans Day was proposed in 1992 by the Government of Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and it had been unofficially celebrated every year since then. Official designation by the U.N. is a significant step in conserving and protecting our world’s ocean.

World Oceans Day provides an opportunity each year to celebrate our world oceans and our personal connection to the sea.

As of 2009, “World Oceans Day” has been officially declared by the United Nations as June 8th each year!

The world’s oceans:

• Generates most of the oxygen we breathe
• Helps feed us
• Regulates our climate
• Cleans the water we drink
• Offers us a pharmacopoeia of potential medicines
• Provides limitless inspiration!

One of PondyCAN’s initial initiative has been to bring back the beach along the Pondicherry coast, on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. This initiative is now expanding its scope to safeguarding the coast of the whole country. It is therefore only natural that we are engaged in the celebrations of the World Oceans Day.

We hope you will join us in the pledges we will take on this day.

Best regards
from the PondyCAN team

PRESS RELEASE

June 8, 2009

PondyCAN is proud to join leading educational institutions, conservation organizations, and  individuals in dozens of countries around the world to celebrate our shared oceans.  World Oceans Day – held on June 8 of each year – is an opportunity to celebrate our world oceans and our personal connection to the sea.

The Ocean Project, an international network of over 830 aquariums, zoos, museums, and conservation organizations is working closely with the World Ocean Network to coordinate activities worldwide under the theme “helping our climate – helping our ocean” with a special focus on coral reefs.

The world’s oceans cover more than 70% of our planet’s surface and the rich web of life they support is the result of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Nomadic peoples were collecting shellfish and harvesting fish long before the dawn of settled agriculture. Great human civilizations, from the Egyptians to the Polynesians relied on the sea for commerce and transport. In our immediate region, the great Cholas were able to spread their empire across much of the Far East by their close relationship with the sea. Now, at the end of the Twentieth Century, our fate is as tied to the oceans as ever. We still rely on fish for a significant portion of our daily protein needs, and more than $500 billion of the world’s economy is tied to ocean-based industries such as coastal tourism and shipping. Perhaps most important, this vast mass of water acts to help regulate the global climate and to ensure that a constant flow of vital nutrients is cycled throughout the biosphere.

But all is not well in the sea. Increased pressures from overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and the introduction of invasive alien species have combined in recent decades to threaten the diversity of life in estuaries, coastal waters and oceans. Now a new threat, global warming, is making itself felt, and its impacts could be devastating for life in the sea. In addition to this, in our country, man-made beach erosion due to thoughtless planning and improper implementation is causing the sea, our friend, to become our enemy, lashing hard at our villages and towns and cities, turning our water saline and leaving us vulnerable to its waves and storms. And we blame the sea, our friend, instead of opening our eyes and seeing that it is we, through our careless actions, that are responsible.

Let us take a pledge:

• Never to distress the sea by taking away its beaches and in turn making ourselves vulnerable to the effects of beach-erosion
• That any development on the coast is done only after scientific studies determine it is alright
• That we cannot allow poisoning our own food by indiscriminately putting un-treated sewage and harmful chemical effluents into the sea
• That we understand that anything we do to harm the sea and oceans in turn harms us and
• Anything we do to protect and sea and oceans keeps us healthy and safe.

65 years and 2 days ago, the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of a century. More than a 1000 crafts came in from the sea, bringing 160,000 allied troops to land on the beaches of Normandy. That decisive moment and act of immense bravery led to the victory of the allied forces over the Nazis. It is remembered and revered and commemorated every year because it was a victory won against all odds.

If everyone on the planet took a pledge to live in harmony and peace not only with each other but with everything else on this beautiful blue planet of ours and beyond, we can rest assured of the victory  -  the survival of our species.

So from PondyCAN to all of Pondicherry, India and the rest of world:

Think about this and do what you can.

And as Ocean Project urges: Wear Blue and Tell Two

PondyCAN
35 Francois Martin Street
Kuruchikuppam
Pondicherry 605 012
pondycan@gmail.com
www.pondycan.org

1. North
2. Central
3. South Central
4. South

North:

Junior Engineer – Saravanan

Phone no. – 0413 2336327

Total number of street lights: 650 (Mostly Sodium but also Tube lights)

Power consumption:  Sodium – 250 Watts; Tube lights – 40 Watts

Street lights are controlled by automatic timer. At an average there are 25 street lights per timer.

PondyCAN has asked Saravanan to set the timers so that lights are switched off at 5.30 in the morning and come on at 6.30 pm. He has agreed to do it in a phased manner.

The North sector begins from Perumal Koil and ends somewhere in VOC Nagar. Once we get details and maps of the other sectors, we will update this post.

Central:

Junior Engineer -  Sitaraman

Phone no: 0413 2336327

Details to follow…

South Central:

Junior Engineer – Tilakaraj

South:

Junior Engineer – Ravichandran

The Superintendent Engineer directly above these four Junior Engineers: Anandakrishnan

PWD:

Assistant Engineer – Jnanashekaran

Celebrate Earth Day at Creart

Creart invites you to the launch of four international ec0 clothing brands to celebrate Earth Day on 18 April 2009 from 5:30pm at 53 Rue Suffren (1st floor), opposite the Alliance Francaise, in Pondicherry, South India.  You will see clothing made from organic cotton, and clothing, furniture and jewelry made from recycled materials.  You can also support Pondy Citizens’ Action Network‘s Save Our Beach campaign with the purchase of an organic T-shirt!

Pierre Elouard and Satsanga are hosting a benefit dinner for Pondy Citizens’ Action Network (PondyCAN!) on Saturday, March 14 at 7pm at the Satsanga Annex at 54 Labourdonnais Street.  The benefit will go to fund PondyCAN!’s efforts to bring back the beach in Pondicherry and the neighboring areas of Tamil Nadu, including Auroville.

In addition to dinner, there will be an introduction to PondyCAN!’s activities by Probir Banerjee, President of PondyCAN!, a screening of a short film:  “Save Our Beach”, musical performances (fusion, classical Brazilian, reggae) and giant puppets!

Tickets are Rs. 600.  Please join us if you are in Pondicherry.  If you cannot be at the dinner, do consider a donation for PondyCAN!’s Save Our Beach project.

Poster for Award Ceremony

14 February 2009

The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage “Award of Merit 2008” for cultural heritage conservation was awarded to the Government of Puducherry for the Vysial Street Restoration. Lieutenant Governor Govind Singh Gurjar received the award certificate from Moe Chiba, Program Officer for Culture, UNESCO, New Delhi.

Lt. Governor, Govind Singh Gurjar, speaking at the award ceremony

Congratulations to INTACH, Pondicherry, for preserving a stretch of Vysial Street (Rue Calve Subbraya Chetty) between Rue de la Cathedrale (Mission Street) and Mahatma Gandhi Street in the “Tamil Town”, an area where the traditional continuous verandas (thalavaram) and semi-public benches (thinnai) have survived. Twenty traditional facades were restored and an additional four houses redesigned to fit in with the streetscape.

Vysial Streetface

This morning, in a Republic Day ceremony at Pondicherry’s Indira gandhi Stadium, Lieutenant Governor Govind Singh Gujar honored our dear friend and colleague Probir Banerjee for his extraordinary devotion to voluntary service to the people of Pondicherry.

Probir serves as the president of both Shuddham, the innovative NGO pioneering simple, effective solid waste management strategies in Pondicherry, and of PondyCAN! (Pondicherry Citizens Action Network), which fights for critical environmental protection and advocates a farseeing program of integrated regional planning. He works tirelessly and selflessly to staunch the erosion of quality of life in our town and to assure that its future will be healthier, happier, and sustainable.

There were two interesting aspects to the Republic Day ceremonies award from which speak volumes about Probir’s impact on the well-being of his community. First, of the two-dozen-or-so awardees felicitated the Lieutenant Governor, Probir alone was honored for social service. Other honorees were policemen, intellectuals, athletes, students, and educational institutions. Second, the event program, which contains a lengthy exposition of the LG’s development agenda for the coming year contains the following item:

To keep pace with the developments, the Government could hardly afford to ignore environmental protection. Sustainable development is the watchword and toi ensure that development is not made at the cost of environmental degradation, the Government of Puducherry has constituted a committee to campaign and implement a “Clean and Green Puducherry” policy. The Ousteri Lake has been declared a protected place for avian fauna. The Governmentis willing to re-examine its policies toward the prevention of coastal erosion.

Most of these ideas reached the Governor’s Palace for the first time in a series of meetings, led by Probir, introducing the new head of the Union Territory government to the work of Shuddham and PondyCAN!. The stated willingness of the Government to take a serious look at Pondicherry’s massive, development-induced coastal management disaster represents a major policy shift. The politicians and administrative bureaucrats in Pondicherry have long supported port development and hard-structure “defenses” to coastal erosion in the form of seawalls and groynes, notwithstanding the patent stupidity of this approach. It’s not clear that the Lieutenant Governor’s good intentions can alter the destructive course they have set. But the mere fact that the question is on the public agenda illustrates the effectiveness of the work of Probir and PondyCAN! in less that two-short years.

So, as you celebrate Republic Day, spare a thought for Probir Banerjee – a kind of present day freedom fighter whose struggle is just beginning to etch its way into the national consciousness.