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India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

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Re: India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

#51

Post by Normal_gaussian »

masonic wrote: post #31
bendermon wrote: post #26

Note: Thank you for down voting for pointing out a glaring 'fake statistics' and poor journalism, on a #1 trending post on HN. The first and the second quote do not mean the same thing, not even close. "A massive 60%t of the plastic waste in the oceans is said to have come from India, according to the Times of India." The TOI reads - "Banning disposable plastic is a huge step for the capital and the country because I…

Is their claim factually incorrect?

Looks like it, Jambeck et al in Science 2015 rank India 12th for plastic waste input to the oceans.

DOI: 10.1126/science.1260352

Re: India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

#52

Post by sqeaky »

wavefunction wrote: post #39
WalterBright wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My father told me that American highways used to be lined with trash until it was made illegal to throw trash out the window.

I've been told this too. There was a massive anti-littering campaign in the 1950s called "Keep America Beautiful" and it was ironically initiated by the packaging industry[0]. [0] http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2006/05/origins-anti-litter-...

I don't think its ironic at all. Some American industries actually do attempt to pro-actively fix issues to insure long term profitability. Consider groups like UL or ESRB, no government intervention there.

I like the example of pesticides. The are some really nasty pesticides that aren't banned by law, but there are industry groups that work to reduce and effectively ban the ones that cause birth defects and obvious toxic effects. If you look at a list of pesticides India has banned and compare it to a list that the USA banned the difference and a few more are effectively banned by this group. Nothing is stopping someone from making these pesticides at home and using them on their garden but its like UL for pesticides, no one buys in large quantity without these guys approval.

I think they do this seemingly altruistic thing largely because trust makes for better customers.

Re: India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

#53

Post by wnevets »

WalterBright wrote: post #28
Maarten88 wrote: post #13

Rwanda also has this policy, since 2008, and they enforce it. The country is very clean, it looks different than other African countries (and countries like the US), just because there is no plastic rubbish everywhere. I think this is a very good policy, and would welcome it at home. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/15/rwanda...

My father told me that American highways used to be lined with trash until it was made illegal to throw trash out the window.

One of my favorite scenes from Mad Men was Don and his family leaving their garbage everywhere after a picnic in a beautiful forest.

edit: panic to picnic

Re: India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

#54

Post by markdown »

codemac wrote: post #22
CaiGengYang wrote: post #17

What are they going to replace plastic with ? Can you invent a kind of material that is as capable as plastic but has zero negative effects on the environment ?

It's not that it needs to be equally capable in each way - you need something that is more degradable and ecologically sensible for each specific case.

Eg: http://mashable.com/2016/03/26/edible-spoon-bakeys/

Re: India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

#55

Post by zacketysack3 »

masonic wrote: post #31
bendermon wrote: post #26

Note: Thank you for down voting for pointing out a glaring 'fake statistics' and poor journalism, on a #1 trending post on HN. The first and the second quote do not mean the same thing, not even close. "A massive 60%t of the plastic waste in the oceans is said to have come from India, according to the Times of India." The TOI reads - "Banning disposable plastic is a huge step for the capital and the country because I…

Is their claim factually incorrect?

I think it might actually be factually incorrect. I looked up the Times Of India article that OP's article was referring to [1], and could not find a source on the biggest plastic polluters in the world.

Then, after searching around, the articles [2] and reports [3] that I found all put Indonesia (not India) in the top 5 polluters in the world. They refer to an authoritative source from Science [4], but I'm not able to access this due to the paywall.

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. Surely the Times of India hasn't confused "Indonesia" for "India", right?

[1] http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/all-forms-of-disposable...

[2] http://www.audubon.org/news/these-5-countries-are-biggest-pl...

[3] PDF! http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/marine-debris/mckin...

[4] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/768

Re: India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

#56

Post by Normal_gaussian »

zacketysack3 wrote: post #55
masonic wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is their claim factually incorrect?

I think it might actually be factually incorrect. I looked up the Times Of India article that OP's article was referring to [1], and could not find a source on the biggest plastic polluters in the world. Then, after searching around, the articles [2] and reports [3] that I found all put Indonesia (not India) in the top 5 polluters in the world. They refer to an authoritative source from Science [4], but I'm not able…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci-Hub

Re: India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

#57

Post by ryanong »

enraged_camel wrote: post #47
SteveNuts wrote: post #3

Banning it is one thing, we'll see if they can actually enforce it.

If Rwanda can enforce it, I don't see why Delhi can't. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/15/rwanda...

I think one reason could be because Delhi doesn't have it's own border control? But yea I get it, there are lots of things that can be done to enforce it.

Re: India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

#58

Post by erickhill »

WalterBright wrote: post #28
Maarten88 wrote: post #13

Rwanda also has this policy, since 2008, and they enforce it. The country is very clean, it looks different than other African countries (and countries like the US), just because there is no plastic rubbish everywhere. I think this is a very good policy, and would welcome it at home. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/15/rwanda...

My father told me that American highways used to be lined with trash until it was made illegal to throw trash out the window.

You still get the problem where pickup trucks are a popular vehicle. It's not intentional (although perhaps from a lack of caring sometimes), but trash thrown in the back simply flies out when cruising down the highway.

Re: India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

#59

Post by Synaesthesia »

bogomipz wrote: post #33

This is great news! I have a question maybe someone from Delhi could answer, the article states: "The ban took effect on the first day of 2017." What are the vendors doing? Is water being sold in glass bottles with a deposit scheme for redemption now?

As the article says, the ban includes bags, cups and cutlery.

Re: India has banned disposable plastic in Delhi

#60

Post by thunderstrike »

bogomipz wrote: post #33

This is great news! I have a question maybe someone from Delhi could answer, the article states: "The ban took effect on the first day of 2017." What are the vendors doing? Is water being sold in glass bottles with a deposit scheme for redemption now?

I'm curious to know this as well. It would be cool if they implemented this in the U.S., even if only for the return to dominance of the glass bottle soda.
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