Slashdot Mirror
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.
I've used a lot of plastic bags quite a few times.
I have a Fuji water bottle I bought at an airport that I like the size of, so I've been refilling it for a few years.
Almost anything CAN be reusable if you try. What a shame they are getting rid of some really useful items that took a long time for human to advance enough to produce.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
About fucking time! But I agree with the fact that we should go after who make plastic containers not the final users. It's really simple, you want to make plastic container and packaging? Good, you must abide to some strict regulation that ensure that your products "will be fully recycled" and you must account for them, every month you put out 500'000 plastic container? Then every month you must scoop up 500'000 container to be recycled in your factory.
So when you walk your dog - where do you put the poo? In nice breathable paper sacks?
Sending people to jail, and imposing massive fines for something like plastic bags isn't "progressive", it's fascist. This sort of zero tolerance, clamp down hard stuff is insane. It seems like both ends of the political spectrum have gotten less and less tolerant, and more and more aggressive in whatever it is they don't like.
The individual penalty is regressive affecting the ones who can least afford it. Do the wealthy do their own shopping? Go out to a fast food restaurant?
They still poop in the street in that Indian city (this, sadly, is cold-hard fact).
Texas is often the asshole of the nation when it comes to situations like this, with their reasoning usually consisting of "because I can!"
Using spite to make policy decisions is a horrible way to run anything.