Ahmedabad’s plastic addiction is severe

AHMEDABAD: Plastics are everywhere, from our dining tables and offices, our cars and phones to our shopping bags. Amdavadis are among the leading plastic addicts in the country. Our population of 55.77 lakh, roughly translates to each Amdavadi discarding 78g or the equivalent of more than 18 plastic bags, as plastic waste every day.
Using the same count, Surtis throw away 11 plastic bags a day, Barodians five and inhabitants of Rajkot four.Ahmedabad is just below the metro cities in terms of plastic-waste generation. In Delhi, for instance, each citizen disposes of 15 plastic bags a day.

According to a comprehensive survey on plastic waste in India carried out by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that was published in 2015-16, Ahmedabad stood sixth among 60 Indian cities covered in the survey, only behind Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Ahmedabad coughs up 241.5 metric tonnes of plastic waste a day; while the walled city accounts for 60.37 metric tonnes or about 25% of the city’s waste.
What’s worth mentioning is that the plastic bag you dispose of takes 20 to 1,000 years to decompose. When all this waste ends up at the Pirana dumpyard, they add to the toxic concoction pumped into our air every day because of the smouldering landfill. “We had been carrying out raids on major vegetable vendors and provision stores in Ahmedabad, but after a week of vigilance, the banned plastics return. The public health bylaws that impose heavy fines are yet to be implemented within the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) limits,” says a senior AMC official.