Indian state softens plastic ban after industry lobbying

Mumbai (Reuters) - In a country in the western part of India, the prohibition on disposable plastic is relaxed and only a week after its application, according to sources, multinational companies and plastics industry institutions will relax and expand rules We are strongly looking for it.

According to a government order issued on Tuesday, June 30, the state of Maharashtra, the capital of Mumbai, the capital of India, allows the e-commerce company to use plastic packaging for three months.

In the past three months, e-commerce companies need to propose repurchase plans to recover the supply of old plastic packaging materials and alternative packaging materials to ensure recycling and disposal.

This ban takes effect on June 23 threatening the sharp rise in costs of retailers, beverage manufacturers, distributors of mineral water and even other companies that rely on plastic packaging.

Representatives of companies such as Amazon, H & M, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and plastic lobbying groups visit Maharashtra State officials several days before the ban, implement the regulations step by step and relax regulations I asked. Four sources said. Friday

Due to government regulations, government officials who participated in negotiations but did not want confirmation suggested that bans were revised after considering industry requirements.

With the recent order, the government banned selling PET bottles containing less than 200 ml of drinking water. It also does not specify the repurchase price of empty bottles used to sell beverages other than water, which may help soft drink manufacturers.

Amazon, Pepsi, Coca-Cola declined to comment on the revision of this ban. H & M did not respond immediately to comment requests

Plastic can be used for manufacturer's packaging if the material used is a thickness greater than 50 microns and contains at least 20% recyclable material and the manufacturer's details and purchase price are printed.

Maharashtra State's ban on plastics is the first broad-based measure against this material by the Government of India and plans to completely stop the use of disposable plastics in India by 2022

According to UN statistics, plastic packaging accounts for almost half of the world's plastic waste, most of which are disposed of within a few minutes of first use.

Two years ago, our California State Council prohibited the use of disposable plastic bags through SB 270 and our governor passed it to the law. Then the plastic industry made a lobby to stop law enforcement agencies. The American Progressive Bag Alliance (APBA), a lobbying group based in Washington, DC, plans to propose Proposition 67 as a voter voter to proposals of SB 270 and 65 as a weak option to try to confuse voters It adopted. The YES vote for Pillar 67 will maintain state-wide plastic bag ban. 10% of the cost of recycled paper bags or reusable bags will be borne by the owner to cover compliance costs. If item 67 fails, or item 65 gets a further vote, you lose the prohibition of the plastic bag of SB 270 and use an invalid method instead to remove the contamination and enter the environment.

Currently there are no bans or bans for vinyl bags throughout the country in the United States. However, in California, American Samoa and Puerto Rico territory disposable bags are forbidden. More than 200 counties and cities, including all counties of Hawaii, imposed legislation that imposes fees on plastic bags or ban them directly. Other attempts to ban plastic shopping bags throughout the state (eg Massachusetts) have not been successful. This is mainly due to lobbying in the plastic industry. In some jurisdictions, such as Washington DC and Montgomery County, Maryland, we have chosen to adopt a paid method to reduce baggage. Several states in the United States, such as Florida and Arizona, passed a law prohibiting local governments from passing their own banning provisions.

One problem facing Romer is that some state laws prohibit municipalities from banning or claiming plastic bags. In other words, some states prohibit the prohibition of plastic bags. These laws are already in Florida and Arizona, and are pending in several other states. If the reverse bag method is in effect, Romer can only do a little more than urging the opponent to abolish the opposition law. In the field of plastic bag method, the parties formulate strategies and adopt anti-strategies. Once a ban on local plastic bags is filed, the industry may argue that people will turn their attention to paper bags, more trees will be harvested and harm the environment. Banknote 209 also requests a paper bag to prevent it from being replaced with a paper bag (as seen in the observation).