taking a strong stand on the negative effects of plastic on health and the environment, the himachal pradesh high court has put a statewide ban on the sale of junk food in nonbiodegradable and noncompostable packets. the ban, which will be effective from april 1, will not include essential stuff such as milk and edible oil. in its january 10 order, a division bench mentioned that court is not in any manner issuing instructions that such junk food items are banned because it is not within the radius of the court. however, if court follows the himachal pradesh nonbiodegradable control act of 1995, the least court can do is to direct that these unsafe items should be sold in biodegradable packing only. court also said that such packing might raise cost of products, but it would be worth giving that extra amount to safeguard health of the children and the environment. in 2010, three petitions were filled to reduce haphazard use of plastic. that time, the court had set up a committee to advice ways to lessen use of plastic packaging in food stuff. the committee, which was headed by the then additional chief secretary to the state, failed to follow the order. as a result, another committee was formed. this committee gave the list in january 2013. in the order, the court has said the list is not ultimate and more items could be included, as well. the next hearing is scheduled on march 15. however, the order has evoked diverse reactions from the people. ali raza rizvi, who is principal secretary of health and family welfare department, himachal pradesh, mentions the ban will help improve people&rsquos health. on the other hand, the state environment ministry, which is responsible for managing plastic waste, refused to comment anything. prem kumar, who is additional chief secretary home, consumer affairs and civil supplies, mentions they are discussing with the law department to look into the provisions of filing a leave petition in the supreme court. various products, which are termed as junk food, are produced in delhi. kumar further said that they need to see if manufacturers will specifically produce goods for the state. in 2009, pepsico had unveiled chips in biodegradable packs. however, within a year, it reverted back to plastic, mentioning it was not greatly received by the consumers. nikhil sood, who is a wholesaler of chocolates and chips in shimla, has another point of view. according to him, biodegradable packing might lead to loss as it does not ensure durability of products. furthermore, such packing is not available easily. according to k l radhakrishnan, who is chief editor of journal indian food packer, though reducing plastic use will be good for the environment, it will result in inconvenience to customers. indian food packer is a mouthpiece of all india food processors&rsquo association located in delhi. he further adds that the health of the children is associated to their food habits. it will need much more effort to increase awareness on balanced food habits. vipin kumar is an uttarakhandbased professional on waste. he says the substitute methods to pack food items like tin and tetra packs suggested by the court could also cause problem, as their disposal procedure is difficult. he further suggests, as an alternative to ban, the government should levy tax on companies and that money could be used for disposing the nonbiodegradable wrappers. this is also agreed by bharati chaturvedi, a member of delhi&rsquos chintan environment and research action group. she says the system should push use of corrugated fiberboard and paper for packing. since transport of these products in paperbased packing for long distances would be hard, the government would have to push local production of items. source of information httpchimalaya.org20130205banonjunkfoodinplasticbags
