The city of Delhi generates 250,000 tons of plastic waste every year. As an attempt to rein in this excessive wastage, authorities decided to ban plastic bags, sheets, films and similar products in November, and the city of Shanghai will not be far behind in 2013.
From February, Chinese authorities will begin to fine manufacturers if they use ‘excessive’ packaging. Though details of the initiative, such as what ‘excessive’ means and who will be the entity responsible for deciding this, are vague, new regulations permit fines of as much as 50,000 renminbi, or just under £5000. It is also unclear whether these regulations in Shanghai and Delhi will be extended to other parts of the countries, and how these regulations will be enforced.
The Chinese initiative also seems to have public support, as a recent poll demonstrated that the vast majority of shoppers in China believe that excess packaging is indeed an environmental problem, as well as a nuisance. However, retailers and manufacturers still seem undeterred by public opinion, judging by the ample and often superfluous wrapping that often swathes goods in many countries, including China.
The utterly huge amount of plastic that is produced and used only once is definitely a problem that needs a solution. More often that not, the plastic produced worldwide ends up in landfills or, worse yet, in rivers or oceans. As use of plastics increase globally, the levels of plastic production in developing Asia, which is currently below our use of plastics in the West, is expected to soar.
There are other solutions that have been suggested, such as turning plastic into goods or fuel, but progress is currently slow, and garbage collection and recycling infrastructures are believed by many to be woefully inadequate to combat the magnitude of the problem. Therefore, the progress of the Shanghai and Delhi initiatives will be well worth paying attention to, and could have significance for the whole world.