PLASTIC BAGS: THEIR TRUE COLOURS
By Mario Mascarenhas.

For 28 years, he navigated merchant navy ships on the high seas.  Today,
Captain Leo Lobo attempts to steer Goa past the treacherous tidal wave of
plastic garbage that threatens to engulf and destroy our once unpolluted
little State.

Capt. Lobo's Chief Officer is his co-activist Mrs. Patricia Pinto.  As the
present and past General Secretary, they are at the helm of People's
Movement for Civic Action (PMCA), the Panjim based NGO that leads the State
in combating the plastic deluge.

Leo and Patricia recently stunned listeners at Goa Desc's FRIDAY BALCAO in
Mapusa, where they revealed what plastics are doing to Goa.  

Estimates revealed that if Goa's local, plus tourist population brought
home just one plastic bag per day, we would have 12 lakhs bags for disposal
daily.  This makes it 84 lakhs per week, 33.6 million per month and an
unimaginable 40.32 crores plastic bags as garbage every year.

So where does all this plastic go_  

"There are mainly two methods of disposal in Goa", says Capt. Lobo,
"dumping and burning".

In Goa, we dump garbage in, nullahs, rivers, fields and other open spaces.
Here, these dangerous products slowly leach (let) out their poisons over
thousands of years, till they become safe substances again.  They are also
a danger to sea life and ships.  

"If dumping is bad, burning garbage is worse," says Captain
Lobo.  Many of us suspect that burning plastic is bad for
health, but what precise harm does it cause_

DIOXINS are the new killers.  They are slow but sure.

Heated or burning plastics release poisonous chemicals called Dioxins.
These deadly gases cause genetic defects in pregnant women - if they are
lucky to get pregnant at all.  Husbands breathing in a sufficient quantity
of dioxins, will find their sperm counts plunging to levels of infertility.
As if this is not damaging enough, dioxins are now proved to be highly
carcinogenic (cancer causing).

Dioxins from burning plastics are not the only health hazard.  This time,
the bad news is that dyes (colours) used in plastic bags are also very
carcinogenic.  A manufacturer of virgin plastic bags in Goa took a PMCA
delegation on a tour of his unit.  His revelations shocked the visiting
team.  Drums of spent (used up) dyes from the textile industry are imported
cheaply from Mumbai and used in the recycling of plastic bags.  The dyes
are used to make recycled plastic look attractive.

"These Cadmium based dyes are highly carcinogenic" Captain Lobo told his
enrapt audience.  "What is worse is these dyes leach out into the food that
is put into coloured bags...and the black bags are the worst!" he
emphasised.  "They are the end of the whole recycling chain and are made
from plastics that have been recycled many times over", he ended ominously.  

By now, the participants of 'Friday Balcao' were visibly a troubled lot.  

So the next time you buy food in coloured plastic bags think of
cancer...and the law.  Make no mistake - it is illegal to sell food in
recycled plastic bags.  Rule 4 of the Recycled Plastics - Manufacture and
Usage Rules, 1999, states this clearly.  These Rules are enforced by the
Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF).  

Rule 3 of the same document states that the State Pollution Board is the
Prescribed Authority to enforce the Rules in Goa, with the District
Collector responsible for enforcement.

Transparent or white opaque plastic bags are made from virgin plastic and
are relatively safer.  Anything coloured has lethal dyes that could be
poisoning you in slow motion.

"Three young friends of mine died of cancer recently" says Captain Lobo
sadly.  "Why this sudden increase in cancer deaths_"  he asks.  "I feel
very strongly that the poisons leaching out from coloured plastic bags onto
our food and dioxins from burning plastics, have something to do with it",
he conluded pensively.

Another important issue is dealt with in Rule 8 which prescribes that the
minimum thickness of any plastic bags given as packing should not be less
than 20 microns.  Now, 20 microns is thick, really thick.  

One wonders if even the milk bags of Goa Dairy are 20 microns thick...

The problem here is that the thin bags used in Goa today cannot be
recycled.  So, they are left blowing in the wind, like so many 'bonderam'.
Captain Lobo recalled the sad tale of a cow that needed a Caesarian Section
because of a complicated pregnancy.  The hapless mammal was truly
disappointed to see that instead of a healthy little calf, all she had
delivered was 40 kgs of undigested plastic bags!

"If they do not end up as cattle fodder, then they are clogging Panjim's
drains", complains the Captain.  Strictly abiding by the laws of good
business, shopkeepers in the Capital City keep their surroundings spick and
span.  They painstakingly sweep all their garbage into an already
overburdened drainage network.  The monsoons bring with it flooded streets,
because the drains are blocked with tons of plastic bags.

PMCA has campaigned with the Capital's merchant community and pleaded with
them to switch over to paper packing.  They have also appealed to
shopkeepers to dispose of garbage in a way that is friendly towards both,
the environment and Panjimites in the rains.

What can the rest of us as common consumers in Goa do_  

"Three things" says Captain Lobo.  "REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE".

"Reduce consumption of plastics.  Buy less plastic and goods packed in
plastic".

"Reuse plastics, by carrying your used bags when you go shopping".

"Recycle plastics.  Unfortunately, we do not have recycling units in Goa.
So our best bet is to reduce our plastic consumption and reuse what we use."

Lastly, you can take action...

The next time you are sold any foodstuff in a thin or coloured plastic
bag...it is not enough to see red...see the Collector too and get him to
enforce the Recycled Plastics - Manufacture and Usage Rules, 1999.


Photograph:  Capt. Leo Lobo and Mrs. Patricia Pinto of PMCA address Friday
Balcao at Goa Desc in Mapusa.

All photographs by Mario Mascarenhas.