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Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

theguardian.com

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Re: Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

#71

Post by shankr »

weavie wrote: post #4
ohnoesmyscv wrote: post #2

When will US cities do the same? Most restaurants offer plastic togo containers, which ends up in the landfill. Some restaurants even use plastic bowls and plates for dine-in customers, arguably so they don’t have to invest in equipment and labor to wash dishes. With The China recycling ban, this becomes more of a pressing issue. I’m surprised cities aren’t outright banning or imposing a tax on the use of plastics at…

An American family I visited a while ago would use paper plates and plastic forks for every meal at home to save on dishes. I was shocked, but they seemed to think it was standard behaviour in the US. Is it?

I have heard similar stories from other people who visited USA. So it does seem to be a normal behavior.

Re: Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

#72

Post by thewhitetulip »

aryamaan wrote: post #58
rubzah wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. Anyone who has been to India knows how small a role regulations play in everyday life. Nobody cares. At most this will give a couple of corrupt police officers another opportunity to hand out 'fines'.

I think the time will tell and it's better than having no regulations at all. Btw, the consumption of alcohol in Bihar and other states where it's prohibated has reduced significantly- I am not advocating the ban of alcohol, personally I feel it's as a wrong move- after the regulations.

Pray tell me how you found out that Bihar's alcohol ban has worked out?

I was under the impression that there is a vibrant black market in Bihar too

Re: Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

#73

Post by Arnt »

matt4077 wrote: post #50
majewsky wrote: post #49

Honest question: What will plastic bottles be replaced with that's more environmentally friendly? I can easily see plastic bags being replaced by jute bags, but the only alternative material for bottles that I know of is glass, which does not seem like a good alternative given its weight and fragility (and possibly energy use during production).

I suspect that only single-use bottles are banned. The sturdier, reusable plastic bottles, with a deposit encouraging returns, should be the best option in terms of energy and material over its lifetime.

The headline of the article says as much ;)

Re: Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

#74

Post by sumedh »

piyushpr134 wrote: post #33

Great to see that my city, Mumbai, is setting an example here. Plastic ban is a no brainer. People must move to either biodegradable carry bags and packaging or move to jute/steel/metal bags/utensils etc. Plastic would choke our world one day otherwise. At the same time, I know it would be huge pain for a lot of people. In Mumbai, it rains really heavy. Like really really heavy. It rains more than 2x it rains in Lond…

Doesnt Mumbai do that every couple of years and the the whole thing fizzles out and then some new bureaucrat tries it again.

This is from 2009

http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/dec/30/bmc-plans-to-b...

Re: Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

#75

Post by sumedh »

sleepychu wrote: post #66
1ba9115454 wrote: post #17

Great. Let's roll this out everywhere. Actually it would be nice to do something about cigeratte butts too.

Just ban cigarettes? They're ridiculous, I don't understand why we allow them.

> I don't understand why we allow them.

because some people like them.

Should we ban Alcohol, fast food and sugar as well?

Re: Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

#76

Post by chauhankiran »

sumedh wrote: post #74
piyushpr134 wrote: post #33

Great to see that my city, Mumbai, is setting an example here. Plastic ban is a no brainer. People must move to either biodegradable carry bags and packaging or move to jute/steel/metal bags/utensils etc. Plastic would choke our world one day otherwise. At the same time, I know it would be huge pain for a lot of people. In Mumbai, it rains really heavy. Like really really heavy. It rains more than 2x it rains in Lond…

Doesnt Mumbai do that every couple of years and the the whole thing fizzles out and then some new bureaucrat tries it again. This is from 2009 http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/dec/30/bmc-plans-to-b...

Yeah! That's true. Recently Ahmedabad city also bans Plastic like Mumbai. But, in last few years, I have heard this same news three times.

Re: Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

#77

Post by babuskov »

I have been thinking a lot about the plastic problem. Isn't plastic a great way to store carbon in solid form for a long time and prevent it coming back into the atmosphere?

I mean, doesn't plastic work the same way the wooden furniture works? Storing carbon away and preventing global warming?

If this is the case, perhaps we should look into ways to store plastic in more environment friendly ways instead to trying to prevent its production and use. All the alternatives that quickly degrade seem to allow the carbon to quickly get back into air and increase the global warming effect.

Re: Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

#78

Post by Cthulhu_ »

sumedh wrote: post #75
sleepychu wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just ban cigarettes? They're ridiculous, I don't understand why we allow them.

> I don't understand why we allow them. because some people like them. Should we ban Alcohol, fast food and sugar as well?

People like cocaine too; enjoyment of something isn't grounds to keep it legal. Smoking (and alcohol) just can't be made illegal now; the US tried that for a couple of years, and all it managed to do was give rise to organized crime and illegal (and dangerous) manufacture of alcohol.

In my country, smoking and alcohol are more passively discouraged; high taxes, a ban on advertising, strict age checks, and (for smoking, lately) shocking imagery, removal of brands, removal of any kind of interesting packaging, and (most recently) a ban on displaying it.

I mean I'd still be in favor of outright banning it already, because all of these measures are just idk, weird, but at the same time criminalising it would cause more problems than the current measures.

Re: Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

#79

Post by Cthulhu_ »

weavie wrote: post #10
alkonaut wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to save on dishes To save what, money or labor? I fail to see how this could be economical in the sense "cheaper"?

I believe labour, all that time spent scrubbing plates...

And to think the dishwasher was invented in the US, :p.

Re: Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers

#80

Post by ams6110 »

dingaling wrote: post #9
simion314 wrote: post #6

A tax seems the fair solution, if it costs X to dispose of a plastic bottle then tax X each bottle, use the money to dispose of the bottle, adjust X if costs change.

But such a tax gives no incentive for companies to change their packaging. The tax is paid by the customer who usually has few or no options. For example in the UK plastic one-litre milk pitcher bottles are ubiquitous. Even the few remaining door-to-door milkmen deliver them, instead of the old one-pint reusable glass bottles. I simply can't buy fresh milk in anything else and i have a recycling bin full of them. Rev…

It doesn't really matter who pays for what in the upstream. What matters is the final price to the consumer. So if milk producer A switches to glass bottles and can sell milk at a lower final price to the consumer, they will be at a competitive advantage to milk producer B who uses plastic bottles and then has a higher final price to the consumer.

That's assuming that the extra costs of glass bottles are still lower than the tax on the plastic ones.

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