Green Blog: Delhi and Shanghai Aim to Reduce Plastic Trash

HONG KONG ? Two recent items of news from Asia appear to show that the region?s nations are starting to take seriously the ever-growing amounts of plastic trash they produce.

In India, plastic bags, sheets, films and the like were banned in Delhi beginning last week. The city is attempting to rein in the 250,000 tons of plastic waste it generates every year. My colleagues on the India Ink blog have written about the development here.

And beginning in February, the authorities in Shanghai have decided to fine manufacturers that use ?excessive? packaging, according to a recent article in the state-run China Daily newspaper.

The article was thin on details like what would constitute ?excessive? and who would make that determination. But the new regulations permit fines of as much as 50,000 renminbi, or about $8,000.

The China Daily piece also cited a recent poll showing that the vast majority of shoppers in China considered excessive packaging to be both a nuisance and a problem for the environment.

Judging by the ample and often superfluous wrapping that frequently envelops goods in China?and many other countries, consumer goods manufacturers and retailers have not gotten the message; many still appear to consider packaging a selling point they cannot do without.

A fine of 50,000 renminbi may do little to change that.

It is unclear how strictly the new regulations in Shanghai and Delhi will be enforced, or whether they will be extended to other parts of China and India.

Still, overall awareness of plastic pollution has risen in recent years, as I?have written about before.

The sheer amount of plastic that is produced, often to be used just once ? think shampoo bottles and industrial packaging ? is a growing problem. Much of it ends up in landfills or, even worse from an environmental point of view, in rivers or oceans.

Solutions exist, including turning plastic into goods or fuel.

Much of the future increase in global plastic use will occur in developing Asia, where per capita consumption is expected to soar from levels that at the moment are well below those in the West. At the same time, garbage collection and recycling infrastructures remain woefully inadequate.

The initiatives in Shanghai and Delhi thus have global resonance, and their progress will be worth watching.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/plastics-bans-in-the-works-for-delhi-and-shanghai/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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