As the ban on single-use plastic is being imposed across the country, one difficulty faced by common people is to replace the polythene carry bags they have been using so far with eco-friendly material, preferably cloth. Even though a variety of cloth bags, in all price ranges, are available, people are reluctant to buy them, especially since they are quite used to polythene bags available free of cost.
Vadakara Municipality, which showed the way for the State in the waste management sector, has come up with a solution to this predicament. The Municipality recently launched a scheme ‘Sari tharoo sanchi tharam’ (give a saree and get a cloth bag), in which, the public can exchange their old saris for new cloth bags.
The scheme is being carried out by the Hariyali Haritha Karma Sena of the Municipality, that converts the old saris into cloth bags at their ‘Green Shop’ and redistributes it.
The public can hand over old and unused saris to the Green Technology Centre near Jubilee Tank or to the Green Shop near the old bus stand. They can also hand it over to the members of the Haritha Karma Sena in their respective wards.
The Green Shop creates cloth bags in various shapes and sizes using these saris. The persons who hand over saris can get bags of their choice. “If they need normal shopping bags, they can get four to six bags for a saree. On the other hand, if it is a stylised hand bag, they get only one per saree,” said Manalil Mohanan, coordinator of the Haritha Karma Sena of the Municipality.
While cotton saris are often used for shopping bags and daily use bags, synthetic (polyester sarees) ones are often converted into garbage bags, which can be used for segregating different kinds of waste, he added.
Besides sariss, the Haritha Karma Sena also takes maxi dresses, T-shirts, and hosiery clothes. “All these can be converted into bags with just one stitch covering the neck and arm holes,” Mr. Mohanan said.
The Municipality came up with this idea to encourage people to use cloth bags and involve every household in the mission. The municipal Chairperson K.P. Bindu has urged the public to avoid using single-use plastic items as much as possible.
