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That's correct. Indians litter. It's a cultural thing, I guess. Filthiest place on earth. (Don't downvoted me unless you have been to India.) It's sad that the

That's correct. Indians litter. It's a cultural thing, I guess. Filthiest place on earth. (Don't downvoted me unless you have been to India.) It's sad that the solution is to ban plastic bags and the like... I'm not against the solution. But, the problem is Indians who think nothing of tossing trash out into the street and would be genuinely confused if you suggested they clean up after themselves.

ryandrake 8y ago
I’m not sure I buy the “it’s cultural” argument. I’ve been to India and to plenty of other places, and there is a littering problem everywhere. It seems to be worse wherever there are lots of people and mediocre rule of law. I don’t think any one culture instinctively litters more than any other.
- thecrazyone 8y ago
  TIL littering is a common thing in multiple countries (not sarcastic)
- dd36 8y ago
  I hypothesize it's a poverty thing. When you're poor, why would you care about plastic waste. You're worried about your next meal.
retreatguru 8y ago
I’ve been to India many times, and it’s true most people there litter without much thought. Once while ‘adapting myself to the culture’ I threw a plastic water bottle away on a street corner that was already heavy with garbage; and just then an elderly Indian man chastised me for littering!
thecrazyone 8y ago
I'm from India. ## Problem 1: The problem is not culture, but of poor govt. I as a responsible person want to throw this wrapper, there is no dustbin you'll find for kilometers on end sometimes. Do you expect me to carry the wrapper back to my home or carry a small dustbin along with me every time? ## Problem 2: You would've noticed, most Indian homes are pretty clean (within reason and corresponding to income level). This is because we care for our private property. Govt is a body which owns public property and doesn't take care of roads and streets (which are public property). This will refute your claim that this is an issue of culture (because we keep our private property, houses, hotels, malls, etc clean). ## Solution (proposed): This is going to be against mainstream and HN views. 1) Privatize roads and streets (takes care of problem 2) 2) Privatize waste collection (takes care of problem 1) But we won't do it anytime soon, because reasons (we'll I know the reasons, but just don't want to type them down here).
- deaps 8y ago
  > Do you expect me to carry the wrapper back to my home or carry a small dustbin along with me every time? Yes...That's what I would do, and I don't even remotely consider myself an 'environmentally-conscious' person whatsoever.
- dd36 8y ago
  3) Tax plastic and use those taxes to pay for bins and removal. This has the dual effect of incentivizing the use of less plastic and paying for clean up.
  - srean 8y ago
    I really wish taxation was more p2p. In India this process will stop at tax collection. The collected tax will not end up where it was meant to.
- lurquer 8y ago
  >Do you expect me to carry the wrapper back to my home or carry a small dustbin along with me every time? Yes. I don't know you and my comment isn't directed to you. But this is what I meant by 'confused' in my post... It seems many from that culture genuinely think it is absurd to clean up after oneself. The distinction between public and private property has no bearing on how a westerner feels about littering. Indeed, a westerner would be LESS inclined to litter on public property than on his own. In the West, when one drops a piece of paper or bottle, the thought is (or should be) that you are making life harder for someone else who will eventually have to pick it up. It's the reason you can rely on Westerners, generally, to clean their own tables and toss out their own trash at fast food restaurants. (Or at least briefly feel guilty about it if they don't). It's the reason you can rely on Westerners to return their grocery carts to the collection points. It's empathy... we don't want to make life harder for the poor worker. I do not believe this feeling of empathy is pervasive in Indian cultures... maybe just a left-over from the caste system...
  - srean 8y ago
    I am Indian and this comment is painful but I agree with a lot of it. Some have actually challenged me "why not litter, I pay taxes for that". Indian society is very hierarchical and shitting on the rung below you is very ingrained in us. What makes matters worse is that people are so unaccustomed to considerate treatment from the rung above that this is almost an alien concept to them. Hence it does not occur to them as often as it should to be considerate to others. Just the other day I witnessed an argument. A lady passerby was very annoyed. The construction worker who was doing some welding work on an overhanging grill did not stop to let the lady pass without sparks landing on her. The construction worker's reaction was essentially 'WTF are you talking about'. The fact is that the construction worker probably would have never have experienced a situation where someone stopped work momentarily for his convenience. Its an alien notion. On the other side no one in the lady's social circle would have been a construction worker even if we include multiple generations.

ryandrake 8y ago

I’m not sure I buy the “it’s cultural” argument. I’ve been to India and to plenty of other places, and there is a littering problem everywhere. It seems to be worse wherever there are lots of people and mediocre rule of law. I don’t think any one culture instinctively litters more than any other.

thecrazyone 8y ago
TIL littering is a common thing in multiple countries (not sarcastic)
dd36 8y ago
I hypothesize it's a poverty thing. When you're poor, why would you care about plastic waste. You're worried about your next meal.

retreatguru 8y ago

I’ve been to India many times, and it’s true most people there litter without much thought. Once while ‘adapting myself to the culture’ I threw a plastic water bottle away on a street corner that was already heavy with garbage; and just then an elderly Indian man chastised me for littering!

thecrazyone 8y ago

I'm from India. ## Problem 1: The problem is not culture, but of poor govt. I as a responsible person want to throw this wrapper, there is no dustbin you'll find for kilometers on end sometimes. Do you expect me to carry the wrapper back to my home or carry a small dustbin along with me every time? ## Problem 2: You would've noticed, most Indian homes are pretty clean (within reason and corresponding to income level). This is because we care for our private property. Govt is a body which owns public property and doesn't take care of roads and streets (which are public property). This will refute your claim that this is an issue of culture (because we keep our private property, houses, hotels, malls, etc clean). ## Solution (proposed): This is going to be against mainstream and HN views. 1) Privatize roads and streets (takes care of problem 2) 2) Privatize waste collection (takes care of problem 1) But we won't do it anytime soon, because reasons (we'll I know the reasons, but just don't want to type them down here).

deaps 8y ago
> Do you expect me to carry the wrapper back to my home or carry a small dustbin along with me every time? Yes...That's what I would do, and I don't even remotely consider myself an 'environmentally-conscious' person whatsoever.
dd36 8y ago
3) Tax plastic and use those taxes to pay for bins and removal. This has the dual effect of incentivizing the use of less plastic and paying for clean up.
- srean 8y ago
  I really wish taxation was more p2p. In India this process will stop at tax collection. The collected tax will not end up where it was meant to.
lurquer 8y ago
>Do you expect me to carry the wrapper back to my home or carry a small dustbin along with me every time? Yes. I don't know you and my comment isn't directed to you. But this is what I meant by 'confused' in my post... It seems many from that culture genuinely think it is absurd to clean up after oneself. The distinction between public and private property has no bearing on how a westerner feels about littering. Indeed, a westerner would be LESS inclined to litter on public property than on his own. In the West, when one drops a piece of paper or bottle, the thought is (or should be) that you are making life harder for someone else who will eventually have to pick it up. It's the reason you can rely on Westerners, generally, to clean their own tables and toss out their own trash at fast food restaurants. (Or at least briefly feel guilty about it if they don't). It's the reason you can rely on Westerners to return their grocery carts to the collection points. It's empathy... we don't want to make life harder for the poor worker. I do not believe this feeling of empathy is pervasive in Indian cultures... maybe just a left-over from the caste system...
- srean 8y ago
  I am Indian and this comment is painful but I agree with a lot of it. Some have actually challenged me "why not litter, I pay taxes for that". Indian society is very hierarchical and shitting on the rung below you is very ingrained in us. What makes matters worse is that people are so unaccustomed to considerate treatment from the rung above that this is almost an alien concept to them. Hence it does not occur to them as often as it should to be considerate to others. Just the other day I witnessed an argument. A lady passerby was very annoyed. The construction worker who was doing some welding work on an overhanging grill did not stop to let the lady pass without sparks landing on her. The construction worker's reaction was essentially 'WTF are you talking about'. The fact is that the construction worker probably would have never have experienced a situation where someone stopped work momentarily for his convenience. Its an alien notion. On the other side no one in the lady's social circle would have been a construction worker even if we include multiple generations.