Less than a week after introducing the plastic ban, the state is beating a hasty retreat on yet another point — retailers and eateries can now use plastic, but for packaging only. Plastic carry bags are still contraband. While this will no doubt bring relief to businesses in the city, here’s what it means for the common man: If you were order to an idli sambar for takeaway, the shopkeeper can once again pack the sambar in a plastic pouch. But you can’t carry your order in a plastic bag; the restaurateur will give you a paper or cloth bag instead. Here’s yet another example — if you want to buy a kg of rice, you can take it home in the plastic packaging without any worry, but if you carry it in a plastic bag, you will be fined.

Hurray for moneybags
Ramdas Kadam, environment minister and Shiv Sena leader, announced the relief on Wednesday. The state will give citizens another reason to cheer by approving a proposal for a buy-back scheme for such plastic packaging. So far, the exemption has only been announced for kirana stores, but the government is going to issue a notification to exempt any kind of packaging plastic at retail level, just like the exemption for manufacturers.