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Saturday, August 27, 2005

Small Victories Department: Bombay bans plastic bags

From MSNBC.com:

Aug. 26, 2005

BOMBAY, India - The western Indian state of Maharashtra on Friday said it is banning most plastic bags, blaming them for choking drains and causing floods a month ago that left more than 1,000 people dead, most in Bombay.

Businesses caught using them would be fined 5,000 rupees ($114), while individuals would have to pay 1,000 rupees.

“Gutters choked with plastic bags caused the flooding which led to enormous losses for the state,” the chief minister said in a statement. “The media and environmental and citizens’ groups demanded that plastic bags be banned, so we are banning them.”

Bangladesh also banned plastic bags after blaming them for clogged drains and floods there, while a handful of Indian states that rely on tourism have done so to prevent littered bags becoming eyesores. Ireland and Taiwan have slapped taxes on them.

Personally, I've been using canvass bags for groceries for years, and guess what? They work a lot better than the plastic or paper ones.

Related MSNBC story: Irish take lead with plastic bag levy (August 4, 2003)

Comments:
Serious question: what do you use instead of plastic bags for trash cans?

Do you only dump its contents out into the large apartment trash bin and try not to get the plastic bag wet so you can reuse it?
 
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