{"id":20010216,"date":"2015-04-16T17:31:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=10216"},"modified":"2020-10-01T20:47:13","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T15:17:13","slug":"kathmandu-bans-plastic-bags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/kathmandu-bans-plastic-bags\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathmandu bans plastic bags"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nepal\u2019s government banned the use of plastic bags<\/a> in its capital city, Kathmandu, this week to mark\u00a0the Nepali New Year.<\/p>\n

The move aims to address the growing problem of plastic and polystyrene waste in the burgeoning city. \u00a0Though there are no official estimates, campaign groups claim the city uses 5 million plastic bags every day.<\/p>\n

Businesses and manufacturers were quick to oppose the move. Nepal\u2019s Plastic Manufacturers Association condemned the decision: \u201cThis is an ad hoc decision and we are not going to shut down our factories or our workers will lose jobs. We challenge the government to close our factories it if it has power to do so,\u201d said Sharad Sharma, president of the association.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Nepal\u2019s Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the plastic association to halt the ban.<\/p>\n

Government officials point out that only plastic bags thinner than 40 microns\u2014mostly used for disposable shopping bags \u2014have been banned.<\/p>\n

Other countries have similar bans \u201cso there is no need to make a hullaballoo\u201d, said Mahendra Bahadur Gurung, joint secretary at the Environment Ministry. \u201cThe government will strictly monitor and assure its implementation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But even some lawmakers doubt the ban can be achieved. <\/em>\u201cIt\u2019s easy to take decisions however its implementation is not easy,\u201d said Rabindra Adhikari, president of the Parliamentary Committee on Development.<\/p>\n

Kathmandu banned the use of plastics two year ago, but withdrew its decision within less than a month due to pressure from plastic manufacturing companies.<\/p>\n

In 2011, the Ministry of Environment \u00a0imposed fines of Rs 500-50,000($5-500) on manufacturers producing bags thinner than 20 microns, which many people say hasn\u2019t been implemented.<\/p>\n

Others have welcomed the decision. Bharat Basnet, owner of Kantipur Temple, a plastic-free hotel in Kathmandu, has been an advocate for the ban. \u201cThere are alternatives to plastic, the only thing we need is commitment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Environmental activism is gaining momentum in the city suffering from severe pollution<\/a> and poor waste management systems.<\/p>\n

Plastic clogs up\u00a0rivers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier this week thousands of people gathered by the holy Bagmati River \u2014 which flows through the heart of Kathmandu \u2014 to celebrate the 100th<\/sup> week of a government-led clean-up campaign<\/a>. \u00a0Hundreds of volunteers have removed about 2,000 tonnes of solid waste from the river since the beginning of this campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have done too much to the environment and now it\u2019s the time to change our behavior, so clean up should be done at any cost,\u201d said Leelmani Paudyal, chief secretary of the Nepal government and leader of the campaign. Many people believe Paudyal is the man behind the decision to ban the use of plastic bags.<\/p>\n

Kathmandu is not the only Himalayan region to ban plastic. Yunnan became China\u2019s first province to implement a ban<\/a> on the production and use of plastic bags back in 2009.<\/p>\n

Bhutan banned plastic in 1999, though the country is still struggling with enforcement, particularly in the capital Thimphu.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plastic waste is a growing problem in Nepal’s capital but many doubt the government ban will be enforced <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20000200,"featured_media":20014637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[760],"tags":[578,580,50040707],"hashtags":[],"country":[20000113],"class_list":["post-20010216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pollution","tag-plastics","tag-policy","tag-the-third-pole","country-nepal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKathmandu bans plastic bags | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Plastic waste is a growing problem in Nepal's capital but many doubt the government ban will be enforced\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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