[PhillipHer]

Cotton bags are costly, and traders do charge for them, plastic bags ARE free.

10 kg floor in a plastic bag is safe from moisture and pests. Are bags of cloth too like that? Lot of grain just rots because it in gunny bags. Do you want us to go to 60s, when lanterns were the only source of light? Then, cotton too is manufactured from trees and so is paper.

Haha. Can you pack your curd rice in a newspaper bag? Try it. Also try a cloth and brown paper bag. You can say use banana leaves. But India is large, with large demands. Such leaves cannot meet the demands unless vast tracts of lands are devoted to bananas ONLY.

What about the packaging by manufacturers?

PS: Plastic sheets can line canals. Try it with paper and cloth.

We have a choice to make....

Are are you going to use something which cannot be recycled & end up polluting our environment & seriously damaging our health

Or use our conscious decision to try something which is recyclable and help us all in our fight against environmental pollution and degradation

Plastics have spread in every nook & corner of our lives...It is not easy to eradicate it completely...But can we try our best to minimize the consumption and make a sincere attempt at it

For Thair sadam why should you pack in newspaper & banana leaf...Can you try the stainless steel lunch box for that


Agreed that plastic bags are free...But disposing that does not come free...This is the crux of the matter


I have a few suggestions to recuce plastic consumption...Let me list them now:

1. Let us carry 1-2 reusable cotton/ Jute/Canvas bags with us always whenever we are going outside for shopping

2. If we are constrained to use plastic water bottles for drinking reuse them after proper rinsing & cleaning

3. Use stainless steel mugs instead of plastic cups in offices

4. Use fresh food instead of processed food as much as possible...Processed food comes mostly in plastic containers

5. In case buying plastic product becames unavoidable check out for the recycle symbol



In fact the lining of canals to prevent water seapage is actually carried out by using LDPE plastic film which is recyclable

[Beerinkol]

One more important point is taking out household garbage.
How are we going to make do without plastic bags to take out garbage.
Plastic is also used extensively in the medical field in some of the water proof bandages and plasters,disposable syringes etc and used as the basal layer of sanitary pads.

So I guess plastic is here to stay.

For house hold garbage can it be collected in a steel container with newspaper spread ...The garbage with the newspaper base can be disposed off without much ado..After cleaning the steel container, same can be used again...


Have you tried a leaf bag for garbage disposal?

Look at the link below

Welcome to the City of Morris

[radikal]

Instead of all that, recycling industry should be encouraged. Earlier the plastic was collected by "rag pickers", now it is BANNED. It has aggravated the problem. And rag pickers have lost a source of income.

[radikal]

Wonderful turn for this thread.
I am happy we are talking of recycling in India and outside India. We do need a global solution.

[Ifroham4]

What I have observed is that polythene degrades on long exposure to sun. Nylon ropes too. Glass does not.

Jute cultivation and processing is nearly finished in India. Better paying crops are avalable. So, forget about jute carry bags.

Cotton bags are made from a relatively inferior fibre, better quality goes for textiles.

Both cotton and jute bags are NOT water proof, a very strong criterion.

You do not cart along stainless steel vessels on the off chance that you MIGHT bring packaged food. I am a N. Indian. But we do take S. Indian food. Coconut chutney and sambhar are put into polythene bags. Dosa, idly, uttapam etc. can be in paper bags. And all are put into a large, strong carry bag of plastic.

Flip side of paper is that it has acids, which easily get into your cooked food. Acid is what turns a paper yellow and makes it crumble.

And natural leaf wrappings are not easy to find. But imagine how many banana trees would be needed to satify the demand all over India.

[Raj_Copi_Jin]

Last week in saravana bhavan, radhakrishnan road, chennai, I saw a north indian gentleman ordering parcel service of typical dosa-idli type items. He had brought assorted sizes of lock and lock plastic containers for most of the items. In fact he showed them while placing the order. I am not sure whether he was given a rebate.

If more people follow 'reduce, reuse, recycle' mantra whenever possible, we can breath easy.

The issue of 'plastic bag pollution' the environmentalists, supreme court and municipalities are referring to is the indiscriminate mixing thin plastic bags with other garbage by all. If plastic waste can be collected separately, it can be processed easily. There is a plant near chennai to recover light and heavy oils from waste plastics. I read in an article that, in bangalore, 10% out of 4000 tons of daily garbage collected is plastics and 4000 litres of oil can be recovered.

[Peptobismol]

I am glad that, after my earlier article, the postings have changed to reusage of plastics. There is no alternative to plastics until something else, more convenient and useful is discovered. What is important is, to be careful, while thin plastic covers etc are used. We will be responsible ciizens if we take them out from being thrown out into the garbage and give them to rag pickers, who, in turn, can give it to factories manufacturing plastic bags. Most of the black coloured plastic bags are such recycled plastics.
Regards, Ramanathan.

[Peptobismol]

What I have observed is that polythene degrades on long exposure to sun. Nylon ropes too. Glass does not.

Jute cultivation and processing is nearly finished in India. Better paying crops are avalable. So, forget about jute carry bags.

Cotton bags are made from a relatively inferior fibre, better quality goes for textiles.

Both cotton and jute bags are NOT water proof, a very strong criterion.

You do not cart along stainless steel vessels on the off chance that you MIGHT bring packaged food. I am a N. Indian. But we do take S. Indian food. Coconut chutney and sambhar are put into polythene bags. Dosa, idly, uttapam etc. can be in paper bags. And all are put into a large, strong carry bag of plastic.

Flip side of paper is that it has acids, which easily get into your cooked food. Acid is what turns a paper yellow and makes it crumble.

And natural leaf wrappings are not easy to find. But imagine how many banana trees would be needed to satify the demand all over India.

Well written and to the point. Well done Mr. rcscwc.