Not many of the current generation would know that there was a time when their parents and grandparents carried cotton bags to markets. Shopkeepers and vegetable vendors would not have plastic carry bags for their patrons back then. Over the past 25 years, the scene has changed completely. We are surrounded by plastic - at our homes and public places. The exceptions to this rule are those who carry non-plastic bags as a fashion statement. Plastic rules us despite being destructive to our lives and the environment. It causes floods, arrests decomposition of waste and even poisons our food if the packing material doesn't adhere to industrial regulations. Environmentalists have been pressuring the government to ban plastic that cannot be recycled, and create public awareness about discarding used plastic. Despite laws that ban plastic bags of a certain thickness, the menace remains uncontrolled in Maharashtra and the country.

Assumed significance
A serious talk for banning plastic has assumed significance in the state yet again, because environment minister Ramdas Kadam wants a plastic-free state. The minister has announced plans to make government offices and the Mantralaya plastic-free by the start of next summer. The ban will include plastic water bottles. He also wants plastic milk bags to be replaced by disposable material like Tetra Pak. Last weekend, Kadam triggered the debate on banning plastic at a national conference of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in which chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, NGT chief and senior judges from the Supreme and high court were present. Fadnavis lapped up the idea and gave a deadline of six months to make the state plastic-free. He said the government would come up with an idea to provide an alternative to plastic.