A GENERAL strike called by opposition parties crippled life in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu by shutting down schools, markets and transport.
Nepal produces 30 thousand tonnes of plastic bags per year (Ghimire, 1999) with a total of between 40 and 50 kilograms of plastic consumed per person per year. Of this, 60 to 70% is used for industrial purposes and 30 to 40% for domestic purposes (Nepal, 2002). Efforts by the government to ban the HDPE bag began with the Environmental Protection Act (1997) which included a provision of control of pollution under section 7(3) and 7(4). The Department of Cottage and Small Industries of Nepal also issued a public notice (1998) to manufacturers, importers, distributors and users not to manufacture, sell or use plastic bags less than 20 microns. As manufacturing did not cease, a further attempt to eliminate the plastic bag began in 2000 when the Ministry of Population and Environment drafted a bill to ban thin black polyethylene bags. Since then government has encouraged people to use traditional biodegradable bags made from jute, cloth and paper as an alternative. Efforts in monitoring and quality check in plastic industry have not been satisfactory.It seems the madness has spread to the whole valley because in three weeks’ time Nepal will implement a ban on ‘the production, import, storage, sale and daily use of polythene bags’. Actually this is a further step, since India’s Environment Ministry imposed a countrywide ban on polythene bags with thicknesses less than 20mu in 2011, although the ban has never been enforced and there is precious little evidence of any environmental gain. This time it will be different, say the authorities. The ban affects all polythene bags so there can be no confusion, although it remains to be seen whether the environment will truly benefit. From purely a litter perspective that is entirely possible, even though plastic of all types was found to constitute only three percent of litter.
