<story><title>Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/25/mumbai-india-bans-plastic-bags-and-bottles</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vishaltelangre</author><text>Instead, government could&amp;#x27;ve imposed ban on the consumer products which are wrapped using plastic material. Almost 50% plastic come directly from such consumer products sold by all FMCG companies. Such plastic material which is used as a wrapper (e.g. mineral bottles, wrappers of chocolates, biscuits, wafers, tobacco, etc.) is often useless and people tend to throw it right away.&lt;p&gt;I agree that &amp;quot;we&amp;quot;, the people need to take a pledge to stop using plastic as much as we can. But if there&amp;#x27;s no restriction put on giant FMCG companies such as Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Patanjali, Netsle, Procter and Gamble, etc. from supplying their products wrapped in plastic, I consider all of these government initiatives merely as a gimmick.&lt;p&gt;EDIT 1: 
Another comment I left on this thread - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=17400028&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=17400028&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;p&gt;EDIT 2:
In India, plastic is a major contributor of blocking sewers and rivers, especially in rainy seasons. Another important problem plastic waste produces is that since government bodies (such as, municipal corporations, gram panchayats, etc.) are unable to dump and&amp;#x2F;or recycle plastic waste properly, it is accidentally consumed by animals and is the major reason for their deaths. Another issue is that, often &amp;quot;dumping waste&amp;quot; is considered as &amp;quot;burning&amp;quot; it. Burning plastic waste disturbs healthy air and is a major factor among others responsible for the increased air pollution in Indian cities recently.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jdietrich</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt;Instead, government could&amp;#x27;ve imposed ban on the consumer products which are wrapped using plastic material. Almost 50% plastic come directly from such consumer products sold by all FMCG companies. Such plastic material which is used as a wrapper (e.g. mineral bottles, wrappers of chocolates, biscuits, wafers, tobacco, etc.) is often useless and people tend to throw it right away.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Broadly speaking, that would be a terrible backwards step for the environment. Plastic packaging often reduces waste by protecting the product from spoilage and damage.&lt;p&gt;A lot of people bemoan the plastic wrapping on cucumbers, but that wrapping doubles the shelf life of the product. It&amp;#x27;s a net win, because the environmental impact of wasted cucumbers is far greater than the environmental impact of a gram or two of polyethylene wrapping.&lt;p&gt;Many people argue that milk should be sold in re-usable glass containers rather than disposable bottles or cartons, but the environmental case is really marginal. The glass bottle is considerably more energy-intensive to produce and transport, with more energy used to collect and wash it for re-use. Returnable glass bottles are often worse than disposable plastic if the transport distance is too great and&amp;#x2F;or the breakage rate is too high. In many cases, the best option is reusable plastic bottles, which are less energy-intensive to manufacture, lighter to transport and more durable than glass.&lt;p&gt;Plastic is a wonderful material that has an important role to play in a sustainable economy. There has been a huge increase in the quality and availability of bio-based and biodegradable plastics in the packaging industry. We have irrationally demonised a very useful material, creating a huge distraction from much more serious environmental problems.&lt;p&gt;If you buy a beef steak wrapped in plastic, the problem is the steak, not the wrapper. The plastic wrapper produced ~10g of CO2 and required ~100ml of water to produce; the steak produced ~7kg of CO2 and required ~4,000 litres of water to produce. As long as it is disposed of responsibly, a whole trash bag full of plastic packaging has a negligible environmental impact compared to a single portion of beef.</text></comment>
<story><title>Mumbai bans plastic bags, bottles, and single-use plastic containers</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/25/mumbai-india-bans-plastic-bags-and-bottles</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vishaltelangre</author><text>Instead, government could&amp;#x27;ve imposed ban on the consumer products which are wrapped using plastic material. Almost 50% plastic come directly from such consumer products sold by all FMCG companies. Such plastic material which is used as a wrapper (e.g. mineral bottles, wrappers of chocolates, biscuits, wafers, tobacco, etc.) is often useless and people tend to throw it right away.&lt;p&gt;I agree that &amp;quot;we&amp;quot;, the people need to take a pledge to stop using plastic as much as we can. But if there&amp;#x27;s no restriction put on giant FMCG companies such as Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Patanjali, Netsle, Procter and Gamble, etc. from supplying their products wrapped in plastic, I consider all of these government initiatives merely as a gimmick.&lt;p&gt;EDIT 1: 
Another comment I left on this thread - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=17400028&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=17400028&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;p&gt;EDIT 2:
In India, plastic is a major contributor of blocking sewers and rivers, especially in rainy seasons. Another important problem plastic waste produces is that since government bodies (such as, municipal corporations, gram panchayats, etc.) are unable to dump and&amp;#x2F;or recycle plastic waste properly, it is accidentally consumed by animals and is the major reason for their deaths. Another issue is that, often &amp;quot;dumping waste&amp;quot; is considered as &amp;quot;burning&amp;quot; it. Burning plastic waste disturbs healthy air and is a major factor among others responsible for the increased air pollution in Indian cities recently.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>omk</author><text>AFAIK product packing is also included in the ban.&lt;p&gt;The articles here state that plastic used for storage and packing of goods is also banned. Including packing of tooth brushes.
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.firstpost.com&amp;#x2F;india&amp;#x2F;maharashtra-ban-war-on-plastic-bags-and-throwaways-are-an-indulgence-but-a-guiltless-dependence-on-straws-will-sink-the-planet-4576851.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.firstpost.com&amp;#x2F;india&amp;#x2F;maharashtra-ban-war-on-plast...&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.freepressjournal.in&amp;#x2F;mumbai&amp;#x2F;maharashtra-plastic-ban-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-ban&amp;#x2F;1253541&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.freepressjournal.in&amp;#x2F;mumbai&amp;#x2F;maharashtra-plastic-ba...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>