Plastic ruins Goa

Goa drowns in unmanageable plastic waste even after passing of law that empowers police to raid plastic manufacturers, handlers, etc. of plastic below 40 microns.

The garbage managers and environmentalists in Goa have been raising the issue of lax enforcement by government authorities on ban of plastic below 40 microns. The one use, low quality, cheap plastics that flood the market are creating gigantic problems for the waste management systems in many areas. These non recyclable plastics when mixed with recyclable plastics pose a problem in treating and washing of the same hence, filling the landfills and putting pressure on scarce land resources.

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Garbage managers blame the random and selective enforcement of the ban on plastic below 40 microns for the problem. “It is enforced only sporadically and this doesn’t help,” says Mathew Pereira, a former member of the committee to enforce the ban. Some feel that tightening the grip on manufacturing units is a better option. “Nothing is done to stop the blatantly illegal manufacture of less than 40-micron bags in the market,” says Clinton Vaz, a garbage management consultant.