Is it just me or all of you think that the world in its current state is awoken about its plastic use? Given that 5th June was the World Environment Day, we are seeing a lot of campaigns and people trying to fight the pollution they have created, which also includes me.?
I must admit that Indiatimes' #NotAPlastoholic campaign has taught me a lot about plastic, its pollution and the waste management. Anyway, I am just here to tell you about how my day went yesterday and how the epiphany against plastic kept me rolling.?
So we all know how Maharashtra has put a statewide ban on the use of plastic and I thoroughly discussed it in my blog yesterday. The ban that comes with a lot of ambiguity has been set in motion with thousands of people finding it really difficult to function in their day-to-day activities.?
The government has imposed fines of Rs 5,000 for first timers, Rs 10,000 for second timers and if caught for the third time, the fine will be a whopping Rs 25,000. That said, BMC raided over 8,000 shops in the last three days and collected Rs 3 lakh in fine. But levying fine was only a medium to motivate people to not use plastic, it wasn't the ultimate goal. That said, what options did the government had for these people? Did they educate anyone of them on the alternatives?
It is easier to switch to cotton bags when buying dry objects, but what about things like meat and liquid that cannot be stored in a cloth bag? Another report suggests that shopping got messy with paper bags for meat vendors and customers.?
¡°The paper had become wet as it was difficult to guard it from the rain. The administration should have finalised some alternative material to pack such items before effecting the ban,¡± said Mallika Dasgupta, reports TOI.
The plight of the people is inconsolable and it is becoming really hard to process the ban in this vagueness. However, amid all the confusion, there was a Pune restaurant who called the shots. This restaurant in Pune recently rolled out steel tiffin boxes for delivery. They will now continue delivering operations using steel lunch boxes to send out food.
They also have a similar scheme on takeaway. The restaurant asks customers to deposit Rs 200 which they reimburse once the boxes are returned.
So can we say that we should bring back steel? Could steel really replace plastic? I think yes. If people are going out with the intention to buy, they should definitely carry their own utensils and boxes to pick up the food, however, things will be difficult for unplanned purchases. In such a case, they can always deposit some money with the shopkeeper and collect it back once the utensil is returned.?
The process seems long, taxing and impossible, but trust me that it will bring a big change if we all practice this.?