As time goes by the ban on single use plastic in Maharashtra is beginning to be ignored and diluted...
A ban is not enough to change the situation. While a ban definitely helps, its implementation is tricky and not fool proof. Citizens need to take ownership of the ban, to recognise the importance of cleaning up our environment and of avoiding the use of single use plastic disposables.
|
|
|
eCoexist has been speaking about the issue since 2010 as part of the UseMeAgain campaign and we are happy to present a series of educational posters developed by us with the support and sponsorship of the Cummins Foundation. Each poster looks at an aspect of the ban and its impacts and encourages a different target audience to make the shift to using cloth bags.
|
|
|
|
These posters have been designed by Ashwin Chikerur and the design team at Studio Vitamin D.
|
|
|
The ban on plastics in Maharashtra stipulates that a first time offender would be fined Rs 5000/- , caught again the fine would go up to Rs 10,000 and the third time up to Rs 25000/- . However with the confusion about the scope of the ban and the unwillingness of shopkeepers to pay, this fine has been hard to impose. Having a penalty in place is a motivation for vendors to follow the law and several small vendors may take it seriously.
|
|
|
Mothers, housewives, home makers are usually the ones in charge of daily groceries and shopping for household items. Addressing them and the fact that a big portion of plastic bags are around fruits and vegetables, this series of posters makes it a style statement to use cloth bags only.
|
|
|
Children in schools like the Delhi Public School are not allowed to carry a plastic bag into the school. This model of creating a No Plastic zone in schools is a fantastic way to encourage children to become advocates against plastic carry bags. When the younger generation starts taking pride in avoiding plastic bags, the message can spread to parents and adults at home too.
|
|
What do we do with non vegetarian foods?
Folks who buy fresh meats and fish often ask us what is the solution to replacing plastic carry bags and the simplest way out is to carry a steel box . Meats and fish that are wrapped in plastic ,often result in the death of stray animals who can smell the foods and mistake the plastic bags for food. By carrying a metal box, you can ensure that your foods stay clean and hygienic as well as that you are not inadvertently hurting animals too.
|
|
|
FRUIT AND VEGETABLE VENDORS
|
|
|
Roadside vegetable vendors are usually worried about losing their clientele if they stop giving out plastic carry bags. The imposition of a ban ensured that all vegetable vendors had to stop giving out plastic bags at the same time, taking away the advantage one may have over another.
If all vendors refuse to offer a plastic carry bag, consumers would be obliged to carry their own shopping bags for groceries. However, under consumer pressure some vendors are now reverting to plastic carry bags and this is problematic. Vendors need to be supported by consumers in their efforts to keep away from plastic carry bags.
|
|
|
Street food vendors are another group that also resort to the use of disposable plastic in the form of spoons, plates and bags. The lack of water makes it difficult to ensure road side cleanliness and hygiene and therefore disposable products are required here. While recognizing the need for disposability in this group, we need to encourage them to shift to natural materials like leaf plates or terracotta cups as was used in the past.
|
|
In the aftermath of the plastic bag ban, it was observed that many stores started to offer non woven fabric bags thinking that they were made of cloth. Non woven is a material that uses plastic fibres and extrudes sheets with thermal sealing. The material is 98% polypropylene.
As it has a texture that feels like cloth, many users are under the impression that it is a solution to plastic . This poster dispels this misunderstanding and shows people how to identify non woven materials so that they can avoid them.
|
|
With this multilingual creative set of posters, we are now looking to distribute the posters to schools all over Maharashtra and are happy to collaborate with organisations who are willing to take this forward with us. The posters can also become the catalyst for discussions among audiences and creative ways of spreading the message using theater and art.
We welcome school teachers, parents and any educators who would like to use these tools along with us to help educate the public about the need for the ban on plastic bags.
|
|
|
|
