The Hindu
CONSCIOUS EFFORT: To turn environment friendly. Photo: M. Moorthy
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The “No to plastic” campaign is gradually catching up in the city
Over the last week, walls sporting artistic coats of
paint, traffic islands with spruced up green tufts, and white boards
exhorting denizens by way of striking verses and catchphrases to keep
the city ‘clean and green' have all mushroomed under the compass of the
city beautification project. The ‘say no to plastic' campaign has long
been a part of the initiative.
Yet, after many
clean-up campaigns and rallies organized by the city corporation in
collaboration with students and voluntary organizations, plastic bags
continue to be the product of choice in most of the city's commercial
establishments, particularly in department stores. Senior officials of
various Government Departments here have repeatedly called for use of
bags made of paper, jute and cloth while stepping up a drive to
confiscate non-biodegradable plastic below 40 microns of thickness.
“Though
many stores claim to use biodegradable bags, the important question is
how many of them find themselves back into the recycling process,” notes
a government official. “If left lying around in open spaces, they can
cause pollution too,” he adds.
“What is the use of
banning plastic bags in stores when it is offered for a price?” asks
Durga, an IT graduate. “Department stores charge anywhere between Rs.
2-5 per bag. They could consider charging Rs. 5 and providing a cloth or
jute bag instead.”
Exploring alternatives
But
there are a few enterprises that have sought the road less travelled.
The Uzhavar Sandhai, where farmers sell their produce directly to
customers, at K.K. Nagar is an illustration of awareness percolating
from seller to buyer. Farmers here are aware of the environmental
consequences of plastic, which they duly pass on to clients who demand
plastic bags. There are no plastic bags in sight here and mornings are
bustling with shoppers carrying wire baskets, jute bags and cotton bags.
“Earlier some farmers used to give away vegetables in plastic bags. But
we stopped supply of plastic bags completely a month ago,” says
Socrates, executive officer of the market. “Even morning walkers who
drop in to buy a bunch of greens and insist on bags are directed to a
vendor with coarse gunny bags.”
“We have been asking
customers to bring their own bags,” says Paneer Selvam, a tomato vendor.
“If someone turns up without a bag, we ask them to come the next day.
But after a month, customers have made it a custom to bring their own
bags.”
A few like housewife Indhira Gandhi reuse the
plastic bags available at home for shopping. “It is better to reuse
available plastic bags than to buy new ones,” she feels. “But as long as
bigger shops continue to stock them, there is no end to the menace.”
Even
small canteens and roadside shops have switched to paper cups that are a
tad more expensive than plastic ones, keeping environment consciousness
in mind. Some fruit and sweet stalls pack their wares in bags made of
tissue paper.
A flower shop in Mannarpuram has shown
its customers that the eco-friendly route is not necessarily an
expensive one. Both dried flower arrangements and bunches of fresh
flowers are handed over in bags that are fashioned out of newspapers —
two sheets of paper folded artfully and held by glue and staplers, with a
string for handle. “Our green tip has come in for a lot of
appreciation,” says Ejula Mathew, proprietor. “I looked up the internet
for ideas and came up with this home-made bag.”
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