A crowd gathers around as Mahesh Patil dramatically rips apart what looks like a white cloth bag. “See, this is non-woven polypropylene, basically made of plastic, not cloth. It is banned, don’t get fooled by manufacturers,” he warns.

Patil is a member of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Plastic Squad and is assigned to the ‘A Ward’ covering Colaba, Crawford market, Fort and large areas of Marine Lines. Every day, he sets off on rounds at 3 pm and works late into the night, inspecting eateries, roadside cloth vendors, retail outlets and the like for any sign of the recently banned plastic items.

Paying the fine

Aftab Khan, the shopkeeper caught with this deceptive plastic bag, has to pay a fine of ₹5,000. He is half amused, half distraught. “Sir, the manufacturing guy told me this is cotton. I just found out that it’s not. I have bought 10 pieces only. Can’t you excuse me this one time?”

A round of negotiation and pleading follows, after which Aftab gives in, pays the fine and offers the two officers water. “I did it unintentionally but it’s their job, what can they do? I’ll be careful from now on,” he said.

As Patil fills in the receipt he bemoans the amount of time it takes to collect a single fine. “It takes at least an hour, sometimes we have to call our senior inspectors. Once we also had to call the police because there was a fight. Everyone was very critical in the beginning but now they are more accepting. They know that the fine will have to be paid one way or the other, but they also understand that plastic is bad. And once they pay a fine, everybody around them is more careful,” Patil said. Avinash Kamble, the other inspector on rounds, agrees. “It is hard in the beginning. Plastic is everywhere. But if we want our society to change, difficulties have to be borne,” he said.

Confused crowd

The narrow and bustling lanes of Hutatma Chowk’s Fountain to Kala Ghoda is agog with confused people, stopping them with a barrage of questions.

“Is Bisleri allowed? Why, is that plastic not harmful? What about the plastic that our clothes come in from the factory? That is okay?” (It is. Shopkeepers are required to return it to manufacturers who then recycle it). “I saw some message on WhatsApp, is this true?”

Kamble and Patil patiently hear them out and clarify their doubts. They concede that manufacturing level plastic not being banned is an issue. After all, most of the items of everyday use come wrapped in non-recyclable, non-biodegradable plastic.

Wrappers used at the manufacturing level are typically made of metalised polypropylene and polyethylene to ensure that the food inside stays crunchy and fresh, and are non-recyclable due to the layer of aluminium it is coated with.

“It is slow poisoning, madam. It will take time for manufacturers to change their packaging. Abroad, they use recyclable material but in India nobody asks them any questions. It is in the agenda, but it has to be a nationwide change. It will happen slowly. First, let’s get people to carry cloth bags while shopping at least,” Patil said.

Despite all the cynicism and practical issues being raised by several quarters, including job losses and higher costs, change is visible. Change that is undeniably a necessary step towards India becoming a developed nation and effectively ‘tunnelling’ through what is known as the Environmental Kuznets Curve.

High rate of compliance

Out of the nearly 70-80 shops that Kamble and Patil pass through, only one has been caught with plastic. Juice-wallahs have switched to paper straws, street side shops have sheets of newspaper and the fancier ones carry brown paper bags. People on the road carry cloth bags.

Established restaurants, cafés and bakeries have shifted to wooden disposable cutlery, corn starch bags or other recyclable material. Everyone is adapting, even if for fear of the stick. It will be nothing short of a miracle if Mumbai achieves 100 per cent compliance, and moves on to replace other kinds of manufacturing plastic with sustainable alternatives. No other State has done it.

The writer is an intern with Businessline Mumbai Bureau

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