NEW DELHI, MAY 7 (AGENCIES): The Supreme Court on Monday said it will consider whether to completely ban the use of plastic in the interests of animals and the environment.
A bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya said this while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL), drawing attention to the plight of animals which swallowed plastic with their food. Observing that most of the lakes and urban drain systems are choking because of plastic bags, the bench said that the issue raised is important to all human beings and agreed to hear the PIL.
The PIL, by the Karuna Society for Animal and Nature, sought direction to the government to ban the use, sale and disposal of plastic bags in all municipalities and municipal corporations and phase out, in a time-bound manner, the “open garbage disposal system”.
Seeking the removal of open garbage receptacles, the NGO also sought directions requiring municipal corporations and municipalities to implement door to door garbage collection.
It further wanted that municipal bodies should ensure that waste storage facilities were built and managed in such a way that animals were not allowed to move around their vicinity.
The NGO said it runs a hospital and shelter for small animals that are injured ill or have been abandoned. The animals rescued and treated at the shelter include dogs, cats, monkeys and a variety of birds.
“Due to government neglect across the country and her maritime boundaries or coastline, animals particularly cows and bulls, are ingesting plastic from garbage dumps and plastic bags littered across the landscape and oceans. The ingestion of plastic from plastic bags chokes the stomach of cows,” the petitioners said.
“Despite the enactment of rules for the disposal of municipal solid wastes and the management and handling of plastic waste, the governments have failed and neglected to implement these rules,” they said.
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