Plastic waste may trigger water bombs in Himalayas

Unfortunately, this is the ugly truth of the Himalayas. The heap, which includes biodegradable plastic, can be found just four kilometres from Shimla in the reserved forest of Lalpani. And this is not an isolated pocket either. The amount of plastic and other bio-degradable waste in the Himalayas is growing at an alarming rate and wreaking havoc with this fragile ecosystem. Trekkers and tourists have become litterbugs, who don't think before tossing a juice can or wafer wrapper by the mountainside. 

To save the fragile ecology of Himalayas, the Himachal Pradesh government on October 2, 2009, banned the use, storage, sale and distribution of all types of polythene bags. On October 2, 2011, the government imposed blanket ban on the use and storage of nonbiodegradable disposable plastic cups, plates and glasses and warned that violators would be fined up to Rs 5,000. Himachal Pradesh was the first to ban plastic and polythene bags. This photograph is, however, proof that the law is totally ineffective.

Read more here - TOI - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/Plastic-waste-may-trigger-water-bombs-in-Himalayas/articleshow/41053304.cms

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