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August 29, 2005
Maharashtra bans plastic bags
Great! They learned something from the recent flooding. It’s creditable to see a government in our country move this quickly.
But the lobbying has started and follows the usual route. Short sighted reps of the plastics industry have started making noises that more than 1,00,000 workers will lose their jobs.
Utter tripe of course, but our governments have a habit of rolling back many of their decisions when these kinds of pressures are brought to bear on them.
Our overly moralistic politicians had no problem with (so they claim) 1,00,000 bar girls losing their jobs when they closed down dance bars so I hope they will hold firm on the plastic bags issue.
But the ban on bar girls has more potential for creating an income for the enforcement system (like prohibition in Gujarat) so that ban will stay so that generous bribes are collected when folks are caught breaking the law.
But the ban on plastic bags doesn’t have that much potential for fun. So, even if they don’t roll the law back, I’m afraid the ban is difficult to enforce in a country where law enforcement hardly exists.
We already have laws banning the use and manufacture of thin gauge plastic bags, but they continue to be made and used with impunity and continue to choke drainage systems and be eaten by unsuspecting animals and marine life.
One look at the chaos on our roads and the government’s inability to enforce laws becomes clearly visible.
We export cloth bags to environmentally concerned customers all over the world from http://www.badlani.com/bags but hardly every get any customers in India. Sad, isn’t it?
08:35 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
August 17, 2005
Preity’s no bimbette
Contradicting the clichéd assumption that babes lack brains, Bollywood superstar Priety Zinta is clearly a thinking woman.
‘‘I want to urge people not to litter and turn our city into a big dump before we all die of diseases and toxic poisoning,’’ she fumes. The first thing on Zinta’s agenda is to ask the authorities to ban plastic bags in Maharashtra. ‘‘We have to stop using polythene bags. We must adopt brown bags. They have banned plastic in Shimla and it’s already looking good,’’ she reasons.
Preity, we already have a law against plastic bags but it isn’t implemented. And brown bags, by which I assume you mean paper bags, aren’t a great option.
Paper bags are made by cutting down trees that take more than 20 years to grow. When they are cut to spread literature and news and knowledge, maybe it’s worth it, but to make a paper bag that gets used just once? Terribly wasteful, in my opinion.
Cloth bags are reusable and that’s the real answer. The sign of a mature society is when people give up a little convenience for the overall good of their environment. Carrying one’s own shopping bags is a small price to pay to pay for a cleaner city.
And the price is truly small as you can see at http://www.badlani.com/bags/
Mumbaikars ought to be specially sensitive to this. Discarded plastic bags contributed substantially to creating the choking of drains that led to the recent floods the city experienced.
08:05 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
August 06, 2005
Promotions? Bags make the most sense
I just read an article by Cindy Carrera where she explains the basics of how organizations can use imprinted promotional articles to their advantage.
She categorizes their uses into Advertising Specialties, Business Gifts, Premiums, and Recognition Awards.
“The trick to a good promotion is to attach your company details to something useful. Now, there is "private useful" like the promotional toothbrush you use in the privacy of your own bathroom, and there is "public useful" that you use out there where everyone sees you inadvertently parading the promotion.
This is where promotional bags come in. Few of us can get people to wear sandwich boards for us without paying them, but easily collocated promotional bags act in much the same way” she says.
“Imagine” she adds “the happy recipient of your promotional gift arriving at a jazz concert in the park toting your promotional bag. There it sits on the blanket, sophisticated, serene and discreetly advertising your sophisticated and serene company. What a pleasure.”
Indeed. We’ve found that our bags get reused more than 300 times.
Choose a relevant bag, she suggests. She’s right. There’s a huge variety to choose from, and most are more affordable than you might think. See the variety at http://www.badlani.com/bags
I'm sure we have something suited for your next promotion. And if we don't, we'll design a special solution for you.
10:15 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Plastax is a brilliant idea says Shane from Ireland
Shane Doyle from Ireland wrote in about my blog on Ireland’s plastic bags. Here’s what he said:
"I'm from Ireland myself and the whole plastic bag tax has been a roaring success. You have to ask for a bag now if you want one, the days of automatically being handed a bag are long gone.
And it really works, people can be seen going to the shops with their own "green bags", as they are called, or even just re-using the same plastic bag again and again. You rarely see a plastic bag being blown down the street in the wind anymore!
I must say, it was a brilliant idea!"
Thanks, Shane, for sharing that. I agree that it is a very bright idea. If you’re sick of seeing plastic bags destroy your environment, ask your elected representative to read this blog.
10:10 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this