Aviral Mishra, OP
Bhubaneswar: Odisha was set to earn accolades as an eco-friendly state in the country after it had snubbed plastic. The government, in a notification September 30 last year, prohibited manufacture, sale, trade, import, storage, transportation and distribution of single-use plastics.
However, we are back to square one after the pandemic hit us. PPE kits, armour against Covid-19, have become a headache now as disposing them involves health risk apart from environmental concerns.
PPE or Personal Protective Equipment which includes goggles, face shields, masks, gloves, coveralls or gowns are made of plastic. Used largely by doctors and researchers, PPEs which are single-use Plastic (SUP) have seen an exponential rise in demand.
Moreover, apart from the PPE kits, countless masks, gloves and other protective gears made of SUP and discarded after use by the public are finding their way to water bodies. A study by environmentalists and conservationists presented a grave picture. The report said: If each citizen (state’s) uses a single-use face mask a day for a year, it would create an additional 32,000 tonnes of contaminated waste and 17,000 tonnes of plastic packaging.
“These are disturbing numbers as Odisha is already struggling to curb single-use plastic. There are several reports of PPE kits and masks being dumped on streets. Their non-segregation from daily waste could prove fatal! The pandemic might get over but people will continue to use protective gears. This (dumping) will be an issue when the state re-opens its tourism industry,” said Ashok Kar, a former IFS officer.
Even though the state government has issued strict Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for disposing of PPE kits by hospitals, civic behaviour defeats the purpose. Panic gripped the denizens of Nabarangpur June 26 after used PPE kits were found dumped on a busy road, the report added.
Furthermore, with the state government’s priorities shifting from battling plastic to battling COVID, single-use plastics have resurfaced in markets and shops. “Even though a drop in demand for plastics has been observed due to closure of restaurants, malls, poor enforcement has seen plastics and polythene re-emerge,” said Shubhendu Roy, an environmentalist.
As per sources, the state had seized about 21,845 kg of plastic and collected fines of about Rs 59.20 lakh from 30 districts until January.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) too boasted seizing 5,100 kg of plastic with Rs 13.26 lakh fines during the same period. However, ever since the first COVID case was detected in the city in March no such information regarding fines and raids have been presented.
“Our priority has always been conservation of our nature but right now it has shifted to safety of our people,” a senior BMC official said. “We have shifted our attention and allocated manpower to battle COVID and once this is over we will continue our fight against plastic,” he added.