On 7^th. May 2012, The Indian High court issued notice to the Indian Centre and all state governments on the PIL (Public Interest Litigation )    seeking ban on use of plastic bags in municipal areas which did not have a prompt garbage collection, segregation and disposal system.   

Excessive use of plastic bags and their unregulated disposal has been choking lakes, ponds and urban sewerage systems, the Supreme Court said while warning that it posed a threat more serious than the atom bomb for the next generation. Based on the directive of  our High court action has been restarted in India to ban plastic bags.

This observation from a bench of Justices GS Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya came on a PIL filed by two Andhra Pradesh-based NGOs drawing the court's attention to 30-60 kg of plastic  recovered from the stomachs of cows because of irresponsible disposal of plastic bags and defunct municipal waste collection system.

But the bench wanted to address the larger questions arising from indiscriminate use of plastic bags, which not only posed a grave threat to nature and environment but also to the human race itself. It suggested that the petitioner make the manufacturers and a television channel, which has been running a campaign against use of plastic, parties to the PIL for a wider scrutiny of the important issue.

The NGOs said absence of prompt garbage collection, segregation and disposal system allowed cows to rummage through garbage bins and eat foodstuff disposed of in plastic bags, which get stuck in their stomach.

"All of us are watching how our lakes, ponds and urban sewerage systems are getting choked by plastic bags. We want to expand the scope of this petition. Unless we examine a total ban on plastic bags or put in place a system for manufacturers mandating them to collect back all plastic bags, the next generation will be threatened with something more serious than the atom bomb," Justices Singhvi and Mukhopadhaya said.

The court drew the petitioner's attention to large quantities of water packed in plastic pouches, which were thrown around in undisciplined and uncivil manner across the country every day. "A rough estimate shows more than 100 million water pouches are thrown all over the cities and towns," the bench said.

Appearing for NGOs Karuna Society for Animal and Nature and Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals, senior advocate Shyam Divan said the problem was more acute in urban areas where people had a habit of disposing leftover food in plastic bags in municipal bins.

"Due to government neglect across the country, animals particularly cows and bulls are ingesting plastic from garbage dumps and plastic bags are littered across the landscape and oceans. The ingestion of plastic bags chokes the stomach of cows and up to 60 kg of plastic bags were found in the stomachs of cows. What appears to be a healthy cow is in fact a plastic-choked cow or a cow full of plastic," Divan said.

"Apart from the plastic completely choking the digestive system of the cow and causing excruciating pain to the animal, plastic residues enter the human food chain through dairy and animal products," he added.

Divan said plastic bags were increasingly posing a grave threat to wildlife too. "Along India's rivers and coastline, plastic waste and garbage is dumped from thousands of villages and towns into the water along with untreated sewage. The garbage including plastic waste is found by wild animals and is ingested by them," he said.

The petitioners sought following the directions from the court:

* Prohibit or phase out in a time-bound manner open garbage disposal system and remove open garbage receptacles

* Implement door-to-door garbage collection and prevent animals from moving around garbage storage facilities

* Municipalities must segregate all plastic waste from other waste

* States must issue directions prohibiting use, sale and disposal of plastic bags in all municipal areas

* Provide animal shelters and treat cows and other animals suffering from stomach ache due to ingestion of plastic

From JCGC -  We want to share  this information to all our friends  to act with  same seriousness by other counties for banning of the plastic bags and highlighting  the  status of the same issue of   their counties.