16 CHENNAI | MONDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2019 1>

Normal life continues toremain affected in J&KPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Srinagar, 2 September

Normal life remained affectedin Kashmir on the 28th con-secutive day on Sunday even

as restrictions were eased in 11 morepolice station areas of the valley, offi-cials said.

Now, 82 out of the 105 police sta-tion areas have no restrictions, they said.

Landline telephone services in 29exchanges have been made function-al in addition to the 47 already inoperation, however, the services con-tinue to remain snapped in the com-mercial hub of Lal Chowk and Press Enclave here.

The officials said that the situationremained peaceful across the valleyon Saturday and no untoward inci-dent was reported from anywhere. OnFriday strict restrictions on the move-

ment of people were reimposed acrossthe valley in view of the apprehen-sions of law and order problems aftercongregational prayers. Only ambu-lances and emergency cases wereallowed to move.

The restrictions were lifted in mostareas on Saturday morning.

However, the officials said, nor-mal life remained affected across thevalley for the 28th consecutive day onSunday as markets remained shut,while public transport was off the roads.

Private cars were plying in manyareas of the city and elsewhere in thevalley and some vendors have set upstall in few areas in the civil lines ofthe city, they added. They said restric-tions and barricades have beenremoved from most areas of the val-ley, but deployment of security forcescontinued on the ground to maintainlaw and order.

Mobile services and internet,including BSNL's broadband and pri-vate leased-line internet, have notbeen restored after being snapped onAugust 5 when the Centre abrogatedArticle 370 of the Constitution andreorganised the state into two Unionterritories.

Companies turn off the plastic tap

ARNAB DUTTA, SAMREEN AHMAD

& VIVEAT PINTO

New Delhi/Bengaluru/Mumbai, 1 September

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call lastmonth to lower consumption of single-use plastic has put the spotlight firmly onthe issue. Companies across the board —from packaged food to bottled water andpersonal care — say they are recycling,reusing and reducing plastic in plants,offices and at retail outlets. Areas thatmost companies are targeting includepackaging, manufacturing and wastemanagement.

However, activists from the Centre forScience and Environment (CSE) arguethat more work needs to be done.

Chandra Bhushan, deputy directorgeneral, CSE, says, “What is needed is analternative to plastic packaging. I don’tthink firms have worked that out yet.Some options that could be consideredinclude glass, paper, wood and card-board.”

But companies in the bottled water

space, for instance, say glass is an expen-sive alternative. Other companies saythat paper, wood and cardboard packsare not feasible.

“Plastic packaging was introducedbecause it is a cost-effective option toglass. Plastic is also easy to transport andthere is a strong ecosystem of formal andinformal recyclers who are ready to pickup plastic waste. Glass, on the other, is notonly expensive, but cumbersome totransport. Yes, glass bottles can bereturned and reused, but there is alwaysa danger of breakage,” says RameshChauhan, chairman, BisleriInternational.

A spokesperson for Nestlé India says,“There are certain challenges in servinghot beverages in 100 per cent paper-based options. We are trying to addressit.” But activists argue there is no way outwith India generating close to 9.5 milliontonnes of plastic waste annually, accord-ing to a new study by UN-PlasticCollective, an initiative launched by theConfederation of Indian Industry, UN-Environment Programme and the World

Wide Fund for Nature.The study says, “Of the plastic waste

generated yearly in India, 40 per centremains uncollected and 43 per cent is usedfor packaging, most of which is single use.”

Companies say they are putting inplace an action plan to address the issue.A spokesperson for Hindustan Unilever(HUL) says, “In 2018, we arranged for col-lection and disposal of more than 20,000tonnes of plastic laminate waste in part-nership with NGOs and start-ups in morethan 30 cities across India. We plan toscale it up further. We’re also workingwith the government and UNDP on end-to-end pilot projects for plastic wastemanagement. We’ve committed to mov-ing to 100 per cent reusable plastic pack-aging by 2025. About 25 per cent of allthe plastic we use will come from recycledsources by then.”

A Coca-Cola India spokesperson saysthe company’s primary packaging iscompletely recyclable. “We are alsoredesigning and light-weighting ourpacks to reduce consumption of plastic,”he says.

However, activists from the CSE argue that more work needs to be done

China, US new

round of tariffs

comes into effect

REUTERS

Beijing, 1 September

China and the US beganimposing additional tariffson each other's goods onSunday, the latest escalationin a bruising trade war,despite signs that talkswould resume some timethis month.

A new round of tariffstook effect from 0401 GMT,with Beijing’s levy of 5 percent on US crude markingthe first time the fuel hasbeen targeted since theworld's two largesteconomies started theirtrade war more than a yearago.

The Trump administra-tion will begin collecting 15 per cent tariffs on morethan $125 billion in Chineseimports, including smartspeakers, Bluetooth head-phones and many types offootwear. In retaliation,China started to imposeadditional tariffs on someof the US goods on a $75-bil-lion target list. Beijing didnot specify the value of thegoods that face higher tar-iffs from Sunday.

The extra tariffs of 5per cent and 10 per centwere levied on 1,717 items ofa total of 5,078 productsoriginating from the US.Beijing will start collectingadditional tariffs on the restfrom December 15.

Chinese state mediastruck a defiant note.

“The United Statesshould learn how to behavelike a responsible globalpower and stop acting as a'school bully',” the officialXinhua news agency said.“As the world's only super-power, it needs to shoulderits due responsibility, andjoin other countries in mak-ing this world a better andmore prosperous place.Only then can Americabecome great again.”

Tariffs could not impedeChina's development, saidthe official People's Daily ofthe ruling CommunistParty.

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