Plastic ban Affects Markets and Customers.

Plastic bags are still being sold illegally in Bangalore.

Bangalore, Nov. 20, 2018. After the plastic ban,  paper and cloth bags  manufacturers are seeing profit in Bangalore. But, as paper bags are costly, the supermarkets are rising their prices.

Uma Ravi, who  goes to supermarkets regularly, “I will anyways not support plastic, because they are harmful, but these supermarkets should not suddenly increase the rate, they should keep it moderate, everyone cannot afford if they charge so much for just paper bags.” She said that everyone should start carrying their own bags, so that these supermarkets will finally decrease their rate, as nobody will be buying bags from them.

Another customer,  Sindhu, had the same views that people should carry their own bags, She said, “if the government exempts paper bag manufactures from Goods and Service Tax (GST), then,  maybe their cost will decrease. Archana who is a teacher  stated that, “shopkeepers are still selling and giving plastic bags, which should also be checked upon as there is a plastic ban.”

‘Mallinath Industries’ manufactures paper bags and sends to food stalls like Café Coffee Day and to some hotels. Prabhakaran P. who is the manager of the company says, “Production of paper bag costs more than production of plastic bags, hence the bags are bit costly. He also said that, “profit is  not very high – initially when the plastic was banned, there was 30 to to 40percent increase in sales, But later, illegally plastic was still getting sold, so our sales dropped again.”

‘Bag Factory’ is a company which manufactures paper bag and supplies to textile shops. Banu who is the director there, says, “People are buying a lot of paper bags after the plastic ban and the sales has definitely increased.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) is also promoting  paper bags after the ban. But I don’t think people preferably are buying paper bags, as paper bags can tear easily and cannot be used for carrying heavy material.”

The BBMP banned plastic in March this year and it started removing all the illegal plastic banners. If anyone is caught using or selling plastic bags, they will be fined by BBMP.