Guwahati’s plastic ban: Big seizures, little change on the ground

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Nearly four years after the Centre banned several identified single-use plastic items, thin plastic carry bags continue to be routinely used in shopping in Guwahati's vegetable and weekly markets, with vendors handing them out for vegetables, fruits and other daily purchases despite repeated enforcement drives.

A visit to several daily and weekly markets in the city found customers leaving with multiple layers of plastic bags, highlighting the gap between the ban on specified single-use plastic items and its implementation on the ground.

The ban on identified single-use plastic items came into effect on July 1, 2022, covering their manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use. Plastic carry bags below 120 microns were also prohibited from December 31, 2022.

However, the continued availability of such bags suggests that the ban has not eliminated their use from everyday transactions.

A 2026 study by environmental research organisation Toxics Link, based on fieldwork conducted between April and August 2025, found banned plastic items at 76 per cent of the locations surveyed in Guwahati. Across Delhi, Mumbai, Guwahati and Bhubaneswar, 84 per cent of the 560 locations surveyed were found to be using or selling banned plastic items.

The findings assume particular significance in Guwahati's markets, where Toxics Link reported a complete or near-complete presence of banned plastics among vegetable vendors and weekly markets. Informal businesses, including street food vendors, juice shops and coconut water sellers, were also found to be using such plastics.

The study also pointed to a demand-driven cycle. As many as 91 per cent of small vendors surveyed said customers continued to ask for carry bags, while the same proportion cited the higher cost of alternatives as a barrier to switching.

A street vendor at Hatigaon told this newspaper that customers often expected vendors to provide plastic bags without paying extra for them.

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