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
and the threat of three months' jail for those caught repeatedly using single-use plastics.
If people are repeatedly using them, they're not single-use plastics, by definition.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
So when you walk your dog - where do you put the poo? In nice breathable paper sacks?
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?
No, the law isn't forcing you to do that ... your inability to buy yourself some re-usable grocery bags is.
My wife and I have a stack of them, folded up and kept inside one of them ... when we go for groceries, we bring the bag because otherwise we'd have to pay for them. I think we paid about $0.99 each reusable bag, and they've all been used dozens if not hundreds of times, making their cost per use practically nothing after all these years.
We've had some of those reusable bags for a decade or so, and while on keels over every now and then, they've been pretty durable. As I recall, they're actually made from recycled soda bottles, and then they've been reused for years and washed as needed.
Are you seriously trying to equate being too stupid and lazy to buy some reusable bags so you don't have to pay 10 cents for a thicker plastic bag with the fucking holocaust? Really?
The law isn't forcing you to use thicker plastic bags, your own stupidity is. Bringing your own bags to the grocery store is hardly a taxing prospect.
You REUSE those bags! In europe those were one euro per bag. I get cloth bags send to me by some charities as a thank you give, and those last a very long time. If youre spending 10c every trip to get a bag, you're doing it wrong. There's nothing silly or unusual about the California rules.
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.
BAIN http://www.devslashzero.com
Although I use them to save money, I don't agree with the idea that cloth reusable grocery bags are the way to go to reduce resource usage. I can definitely agree that they reduce litter which is an important consideration as well. There have been studies that show it is vitally important to regularly wash reusable grocery bags to prevent cross contamination of groceries purchased, along with any surfaces the bags come in contact with. The overwhelming majority of RGB users don't do this. Aside from health risks of this, an emergency trip to the hospital likely costs far more resources than you'd save in a lifetime of re-using bags, and while motivated individuals may be vigilant against cross contamination, the population as a whole will not be which makes forcing this as the only cost-effective strategy to grocery shop somewhat short sighted.