At what scale does change arrive?
At the fourth citizens meeting on the plastic bag ban issue we looked at the efforts on the ground made by the residents of Pimple Saudagar with Siddarth Naik and also discussed the vision of Sagar Mitra of Vinod Bodhankar. We also looked at a system to make malls free of plastic bags presented by Anjali Bhagwani.
Whether the government institutes a ban on plastic bags or not, it is quite clear that without community support and a steady supply of alternatives such a ban would hardly be effective.
How does one change consumer mentality? How much campaigning is necessary? Do small scale efforts - one on one - work better or do you need large numbers to create an impact? If we changed systems, will consumer habits change automatically?
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PIMPLE SAUDAGAR: CASE STUDY
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We , citizens and shop owners of Pimple Saudagar have come together to make our Pimple Saudagar ward a plastic bag free ward starting 1st January, 2018 under the below guiding principles:
1. Joint initiative of citizens and shop owners with support from local corporators’.
2. Plastic pollution is of many types. This movement is targeting specially the plastic entering our ecosystem through shopping or carry bags (plastic bags used to carry grocery, fruits, vegetables, small items, medicines, cosmetics) to our home.
3. Move from “Use and Throw” habit to “Use Me Again” habit
4. No distribution of free bags, imposing fines, penalties as these are all short term and NOT sustainable solutions. They have failed in many cities as they work for few weeks and situation returns to same as earlier.
5. Citizens need to make a habit to
a. Carry their Own Cloth or Jute shopping bag
b. Keep few bags in Office bag, Car and 2 wheeler
c. Carry goods in your hand to your car , 2 wheeler or home wherever possible
6. Shop owners to stop giving or offering plastic carry bags and do this via a united effort so that citizens do not have a choice to go to next door shop who is giving plastic shopping/carry bag.
7. No Awareness on plastic pollution as people are already aware of plastic pollution and its environment impact.
8. Run this movement as a positive change jointly with all stakeholders to make it a success and may way for a sustainable solution rather than short term fix.
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Sidharth Naik, a resident of Roseland Residency in Pimple Saudagar who has been leading the campaign against plastic bags in his area came to share the lessons learnt from their efforts over the past one month, based on the guidelines above.
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THEIR APPROACH:
The community in Pimple Saudagar , especially in Roseland Residency is already very aware and has established systems of waste seggregation and collection for some time now. Within this community to bring a new topic of plastic bag reduction was relatively easier.
Sidharth said that they began the campaign with a discussion - asking the question to residents - Is it possible for us to become free of plastic bags?
They then created a core group - read strong and identifiable leadership - and also set a clear deadline for the results. Within that one month in December, a lot of momentum was generated and a they rallied people together to create an excitement and an anticipation about the issue.
They were also very cautious to run the campaign in a way that it was not limited to any on organisation, any one society or any one corporator. It was a joint initiative. This allowed the campaign to become inclusive and for all stakeholders to feel a sense of ownership.
They asked shop keepers to stop giving out any bags for free.
One of the corporators who got involved made stickers that were posted in all shops.
They also recieved a lot of support from the media and this helped create the awareness they needed by drawing media attention.
They decided that they would not encourage complaints or penalising action against those who continue to distribute and use plastic bags. They wanted to keep away from all negativity and work primarily on inspiring change from within.
They also created some amount of peer pressure by getting conscious shop owners to speak to other shop keepers.
THEIR CHALLENGES:
While Sidharth reports that they may have reduced plastic bag usage by nearly 60 - 70% from 1st Jan onwards there are still several challenges that they face.
The lack of a cheap alternative to plastic carry bags has been one of the main concerns.
The consumers desire to get a bag for free is another hurdle. Shop owners that have given out reusable bags find that consumers still dont reuse the bags and simply keep asking for more and more bags.
There was an exchange of notes between residents of Brahma Suncity from Wadgaon Sheri who had come to hear the experiences of Pimple Saudagar.
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We have news that the following areas in Pune are hoping to start the campaign to reduce plastic bags in their communities also
1. Bhosale nagar
2. Wakad
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SYSTEMS THAT CHANGE CONSUMER HABITS : MALLS
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Anjali Bhagwani, a fourth year Design Experience student from Symbiosis, has been interning with eCoexist on the UseMeAgain campaign. She has been looking at systems that encourage the use of plastic bags in malls and how these could be replaced to create habits of reuse.
The considerations for this exploration are:
1. Malls require to be seen as cutting edge and would benefit from a 'green' rating.
2. Malls have serious security concerns and their systems revolve around security.
3. Malls have clear check points both for walk ins as well people with vehicles.
4. Malls have an overall ownership as well as shops within the mall and change of system would require buy in from both levels to enforce the change.
5. Reusable bags could increase branding as well as reduce costs for both the mall and the individual shops.
The proposal involves studying the trajectory of all consumers , the different scenarios that a consumer may go through and how a reusable bag on deposit system could work out.
The eCoexist team will be approaching a few mall owners to propose the idea to them shortly.
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SAGAR MITRA : INSTITUTIONALISING CHANGE
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Sagar mitra is a pune based NGO that is focussed on the need to conserve water resources by cleaning them of plastic waste.
Vinod Bodhankar, spoke to the gathering about the vision of Sagar Mitra.
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His main point was that to confront the plastic menace at the scale at which it is destroying the planet, we need to create a Peoples movement that is also large scale. Sagar Mitras aim is to take a small idea and convert it into a large movement and he believed that this is the only way that plastics can be reduced.
He pointed out that we need to understand the global economic forces that are pushing plastic production in the name of 'development'. He shared that the United States of America has declared that it will double plastic production, and expects to increase the export markets for this increased production, selling this plastic to Africa, Asia and China. India's projections reveal that Indians will be using four times more plastic with our current focus on development.
To counter this, he argued, that we need to create collective action for families, children and shops - to bring societies together in federations ( families) , to network with schools ( children) and to bring shop keepers associations together ( shops) and to create a network for the entire city. Children are also a great way of creating movements, and Sagar Mitra now has more than a lakh students following their recycling programme.
Can Pune as a city, lead the country in the third fight for freedom - freedom for the planet from human ills?
SAGAR MITRAS MODEL OF CLOTH BAG PROMOTION
Vinodji shared an idea that Sagar Mitra is now exploring. They will be sourcing cotton from the Vidarbha farmers who are struggling with increasing suicide rates, offerring this cotton fabric to women in villages to make bags from them and then selling these bags to create funds for the army jawans.
In this way by connecting several issues they feel that the cloth bags will inspire people to make the change as they will do so much good for so many people.
Sagar Mitra is open to collaborations and would be happy to discuss with anyone who would like to partner with them on plastic bag collection and recycling.
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MANN KI BAAT: INVOLVING MINISTERS
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Smitha and Sanjeev Naik, who have been volunteering for the UseMeAgain campaign discussed their idea of writing a letter ( in the form of a petition) addressed to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra as well as to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to invite him to speak about this issue on his radio programme Mann Ki Baat.
A draft of the letter will be circulated to take comments and feedback and then we will collect signatures from the residents of Pune before we send it out to them.
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