Waste Management Diaries – 4 (EPS)

Our new refrigerator is arriving, and with it we can be sure of something else – Thermocol as voluminous as the fridge itself. Not so long ago, lunch at the food court meant eating off a Styrofoam plate. What really is Thermocol and Styrofoam?

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Thermocol waste being accumulated

What is Thermocol/Styrofoam?

Thermocol and Styrofoam are brand names – the former by BASF and the latter by Dow Chemicals.

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Mumbai plastic ban

“I have cleared my house of all the plastic bags. I cannot afford to pay Rs 5,000 as fine.”

“Madam, they are saying that they will come to check our houses to see if we have plastic. Do you think they will come?”

“Everyone on the road is carrying cloth bags today. Who wants to pay fine? ”

“Vegetable vendors are telling us to go home and bring a bag. None of them have plastic bags.”

“Will it be alright to carry this water bottle? I won’t be caught and fined, right?”

The Maharashtra Plastic and Thermocol Products (Manufacture, Usage, Sale, Transport, Handling and Storage) Notification, 2018 that imposes a ban on several disposable items (wef 23rd June 2018) would appear extreme, but citizens in general seem to be quite serious about following the rules. Unlike earlier times, consumers are being held liable for abuse of plastic/disposables, and the penalties for non-compliance are steep.

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