Plastic-free Nagaland: Kohima residents adapting to ‘change’

Our Correspondent

Kohima, Jan. 21 (EMN): The public response—at least here in the state’s capital Kohima—to the Nagaland government’s ‘plastic-free’ declaration in December last year has been a mixed one so far.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror, the administrator of Kohima Municipal Council (KMC), Kovi Meyase said the council had “sensitised” the residents of all the capital’s 19 wards “about the adverse effect of plastic pollution” last year. The level of awareness among the residents, he said, was “impressive.”

Meyase was of the view that along with the changes, due attention should be given to the alternatives that were made available to the public. Presently, paper bags, bamboo products, recycled plastic bags (above 50 microns), and other biodegradable products are employed as alternatives.

According to him, those alternatives were “not very cost-effective.” Ultimately, for the public affordability becomes a problem, Meyase said. He was hopeful that the government would provide subsidy to some entrepreneurs with the aim to produce those alternatives at a cheaper rate.

Meyase was pleased to see the younger generation taking the plastic-free campaign seriously. The KMC, he said, will be organising a seminar in collaboration with the Angami Women Organisation—Northern, Southern, Western and Chakro—in the month of February, as part of the plastic-free campaign.

The chairman of New Market Panchayat, Ruokuobeizo Nyusou said the council had in November 2018 directed the residents and shopkeepers not to use plastic bags and wrappers. ‘This year, we have informed and handed out a circulation to all the shopkeepers about the penalties for the violation of the rule. And so far the response is good,’ Nyusou said.

He added that people who are not aware of the colony’s new initiative used to complain about wrapping of paan in a paper and not plastics. “It’s difficult to impose everything all at once. Therefore, we are starting with the small thing,” Nyusou humbly said.

The chairman said that the council’s next step will be to ban the use of Styrofoam plates and cups, plastic bottles especially during weddings and mass celebrations. ‘But foremost we want to completely ban the use of plastic wrappers for sweets, paan, tamul etc.,’ he said.

The penalty for first-time violation involves monetary fine. But for repeaters, the shopkeepers’ license would be cancelled and expelled from the locality.

For two students, the ‘change’ has been noticeable. “In some shops, paper bags are used instead of plastic,” said Wekeso-u Kapfo. From her residence at Forest Colony to Kohima College, Kapfo could see many “positive changes.” Also, her friend Gita Kumari said that earlier there used to be lots of wrappers lying everywhere but now it is much cleaner.

“If at all ban has to be imposed, than it’ll have to start from the factory itself and not at the shop outlets,” said one of the shopkeepers who did not wish to be named.

“More or less, it’s like the same thing,” said Senti, another resident of Kohima. Though some shops have stopped using plastic bags, there are still others using it, she added. Interestingly, she said that ‘if there is a checking in the shops, they (shopkeepers) will hide those plastics and will use behind the back of the administrators and regulators.’ She also said that the single-use plastic bags among the vendors and fishmongers were still common.

Despite the efforts from the authorities, some of the shopkeepers in town still appeared clueless about the plastic-free campaign.