It is almost 2 years since the above exchanges took place;while the matter was hot.

I have practiced to handle the plastic scrap properly in my own household for the bygone 2 years. And I am happy on myself being pretty susccessful.

For the last two years i have not thrown a single plastic item in the garbage- household dustbin and my office dustbin. I have found that keeping a big plastic bag in a corner in the house/office to dump all plastic wastages is very simple and does not require any special effort/expenditure/energy/time. Also, for the plastic bags/containes used to pack wet/sticky/smelly substances, it is very very simple to give a quick water wash from a running tap and then to throw this washed bag in your big bag in the corner. It takes nearly the same time you take to throw the bag into your regular distbin. This way you reduce at least 90% degrading type of matter going into open garbage dumps on the street corners, if not 100%. I do not think that running water has still remained a problem at least in Mumbai.

This big plastic bag in the corner, once it is full, I hand it over to our janiter. He is happy for two reasons to accept it. From somewhere he gets a few rupees for that, I am told. And secondly, he is happy to handle my daily dustbin. Because it contains only dry scrap, vegetable peels,dry bones and the like. No waste food or wet garbage. In the last year I have prevented about 5-6 kg plastic going into my dustbin and from there to finally street corner dump. I will estimate that, I might have reduced the volume of garbage thrown by me alone by 90%.

Why it should work for every body else?

I invite all the readers of this article to practise like this on personal level first, and then spread the practice around.

Implanting good habits into the “people” is the only, and the only solution for eradication of the plastic menace. And moreover, this is not easy. It takes time for people to change, and patience and complete faith in what you are doing. Change yourself and the world will change too. (But not immediately). Curtailing or punitive type of measures work only at individual levels, not on mass scale.

So, once again I appeal to all, to be practicle and believe in gradual change which starts from you alone.

Because of throw away culture and no objection from passer by, the advise on sensible disposal of plastic bags are not heeded by general public forcing the government to consider banning of plastic bags all together.

If no plastic in the city then….how will your daily Bread, Milk, Grocery, Bakery, Medicines, Food Parcels, Fabric Packaging, Roof Waterproofing sheets and endless items which each of us use in our day to day life, will be delivered to you?

1. Required Measure is not the BAN on plastic bags but an effective waste management and disposal of plastic bags.
2. 3. Educate users to the right disposal methods.
4. Reduce the no of users by reducing the population in the long run.
5. Encourage reusable bags from traditional materials by suitable advertisements to make it fashionable. ( this may be the overwhelming factor in favour of traditional material). ( Ladies use bags made of snake skin/ rabbit skin/lion skin etc only for fashion and looks )
6. Cost of mfg bags with traditional material can be subsidized by printing advertisement on the bags.

This is not something un-achievable. Have you ever heard of selling old-newspapers … well I did it when I was young and that was part of my pocket money … All it needs is its awareness and strict implementation (and some benefit). People blame everything possible when problem arises, but doesn’t pay much attention to prevent them. May be thats the reason we have 10 fingers to point (at others) but only 2 hands to do something.

-Vijay

However, something as drastic as this should be done in phases; start immediately with the big boys (Shoppers Stop, Big Bazaar etc) and work your way eventually to the bottom (fruit & veg vendors). Unfortunately, the most urgent problem is actually with those ultra-thin plastic bags used by fruit & veg vendors; these bags can’t be reused as they are so thin and just end up snagged on trees or in drains. But I’d hate to just penalise these poor vendors….so give them time to change and come next monsoon, we might see some results.
We all know what the long term solutions are (waste disposal strategies, better drainage infrastructure etc), but we can’t wait forever until these emerge.

Well said. U touch a very poignant point, about kickbacks.

Now you gotta be careful…because the plastic bag mafia is coming to get you, for destroying their livelihood.

does one need to be ignorant before becoming wiser?

Another of your commonsensical idea. On the ideas of incentives, I am currently reading Freakonomics by Steven Levitt, which I am sure you must have already read. A large chunk of public policies can be implemented by the right incentives, if only our policy makers really want to make the change.