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Mumbai Bans Plastic Bags, Bottles, and Single-Use Plastic Containers (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Mumbai has the become the largest Indian city to ban single-use plastics, with residents caught using plastic bags, cups or bottles to face penalties of up to 25,000 rupees (~$365) and three months in jail from Monday. Council inspectors in navy blue jackets have been posted across the city to catch businesses or residents still using plastic bags. Penalties have already kicked in for businesses and several, reportedly including a McDonald's and Starbucks, have already been fined. Penalties range from 5,000 rupees (~$73) for first-time offenders to 25,000 rupees (~$365) and the threat of three months' jail for those caught repeatedly using single-use plastics.
Yeah! What DID we do before disposable containers? I mean, go back to drinking out of coconuts and shoes?! Or just our hands?!?!
And my disposable fast food containers.....
Paper.
Paper food containers work just fine. So do thicker -and thus reusable- plastic shopping bags. Your disposable pen is actually a quality item with long durability.
Coming from Europe i was stunned by the amount of thin plastic bags the USA customers consume. Walmart happily packs 1 bottle of soda in a plastic bag. Spending $50 gets you home with at least a dozen of useless plastic bags.
I'm used to buying a (slightly thicker) plastic bag for $0.15 that's actually usable several times (and i will, because i'm cheap), and will contain most of that $50 groceries in one bag. Alternatively, i bring my own sturdier bags. Sometimes filled with refund plastic bottles. Once you're used to it, it's really not such a big deal. And yes, we still have those thin plastics for certain goods, like fresh fruit or veggies.
I'm not saying our streets and highways are not littered with trash, cause they are.. Plastic drinking bottles or cans all around, cause people are *ssh*s. But removing those thin disposable plastic bags really does make a difference.
A glitch a day keeps the bugs away.
Coming from Europe i was stunned by the amount of thin plastic bags the USA customers consume. Walmart happily packs 1 bottle of soda in a plastic bag. Spending $50 gets you home with at least a dozen of useless plastic bags.
Most people reuse those bags as liners on small trash cans, but I do agree people tend to get a few too many.
Was about to mention similar... these bags more often than not get a second life around the household - as small trashcan liners, to package used cat litter (or any other animal waste), to toss stuff in that the kid has to take to school that day, as a quickie it of waterproofing for a small laptop bag, etc.
I can also agree that you end up with way too many... some stores often use a bag for like 1-2 items (while others cram it full... kind of a crap-shoot, truth be told.)
I much prefer the reusable bags (especially the insulated ones for cold stuff), but usually that's because it's 25 miles to the nearest grocery store, and you end up carrying the same amount of stuff in less bags when it comes time to drag it all into the house.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Worse than you think: Some of those rivers get half-burned human (and various un-burned animal) corpses dumped into them on a very regular basis (and if we're talking about the Ganges, we're talking near-industrial-scale corpse-dumping), let alone the massive amount of un/semi-treated sewage.
I guess this little step is better than no step, but yeah, you're right... there are way bigger problems that could be addressed here.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
OK, working on the assumption that this isn't a joke/troll/misplaced irony:
- supermarket purchases were put in paper bags - which were quite large and reinforced - or boxes - of which the supermarket has an oversupply for obvious reasons.
- glass bottles... ever heard of them?
- no, you do not need a straw. No-one needs a straw, ever.
- milk, juice etc came in waxed cardboard cartons that did the job just fine.
- ever heard of a pencil (wood and graphite) or a non-disposable pen?
In more recent news... are you honestly telling me you've never got take-away in a box (pizza? noodles? hell even my local curry joint has figured that out, though they still try and put said box in a plastic bag for reasons unknown). And cutlery - try putting "bamboo knives and forks" into your google machine. And, supposing you do find a foodstuff that can't be housed in a non-plastic container (I don't know: soup made from sulfuric acid?) then how about growing a pair, putting on some pants and actually eating it in the restaurant from a non-disposable plate/bowl/other with a non-disposable fork/spoon/other?
I live in Pune, about 120km east of Mumbai and its the same. Its strange not to get straws to drink soda in McDonalds now. But a good change anyways. The country is getting littered way too much.
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