Mumbai: Getting back to good old habits of carrying a cloth or jute bag when leaving home for shopping has been slow ever since the Maharashtra government introduced a blanket ban on plastic bags on March 23 this year.

Shopkeepers, vegetable and fruit sellers, grocery owners or even shops in malls will not provide customers with a plastic bag to carry home your stuff though the government has extended the implementation until June 23. Mumbaikars are now trying to remember that carrying one’s bag will save trouble.

Meanwhile, manufacturers and traders of plastic have approached the Bombay High Court for a relief.

“It’s a good thing that the state government has brought this rule as used plastic bags are everywhere — in markets, children’s parks and on roads whilst drains and rivers are choked up with plastic bags that does not allow the flow of rain or river water all the time,” says Rita Tiwari, a housewife. Often heaps of garbage left uncollected in many parts of Mumbai are loaded with plastic bags and bottles.

Many have welcomed the landmark move but wonder whether everyone should have been given the time to get accustomed to the new rule. Sales of fish came down due to the ban on plastic bags whilst the suggestion has been to use steel containers when buying fish, mutton or chicken. People expect more clarity in the days to come.

The ban was issued under the name of Maharashtra Plastic and Thermacol Products (manufacture, usage, sale, transport, handling and storage) Notification, 2018. The notification raised alarm that the “usage and disposal of plastic products are diverse and include accumulation of waste in landfills, water bodies and in natural habitats, physical problems of wild animas resulting from ingestion or entanglement in plastic, the leaching of chemicals from plastic products and the potential for plastics to transfer chemicals to wildlife and humans.”

The ban extended to plastic bags, disposable plastic and thermacol items like spoons, forks, cups, glasses, containers; plastic pouches for storing liquid, plastic wrap for packaging, plastic packaging for food items and plastic and thermacol decorations. But there are exemptions for packaging of medicines, agriculture products, handling of solid waste (used to collect garbage at home) and packaging of plastic pouches for milk. These pouches as well as empty water bottles will have to be returned to the seller under a buy back mechanism for recycling.

There’s certainly been plenty of confusion over many points but people are adhering to the ban as the violation will involve fines.

The sudden ban prompted the Maharashtra Plastic Manufacturers Association to file a writ petition in the Bombay High Court last week seeking lifting of the ban or deferring it as affects the livelihood of thousands of employees and plastic units have invested over Rs50 billion into the industry.

On Wednesday, the government told the Bombay High Court that plastic was an environmental hazard affecting the health of both people and animals. In Maharashtra, nearly 1,200 metric tonnes of plastic waste is produced and the government’s affidavit said that plastic requires more than 100 years to degrade — thus disrupting natural balance of the eco system.