An Anantapur-based non-governmental organisation, Green Army, is leading an innovative campaign against the use of plasticAn Anantapur-based non-governmental organisation, Green Army, is leading an innovative campaign against single-use plastic cutlery and packaging material by exchanging them with those made out of arecanut leaves.
Creating awareness among owners of mutton, chicken and fish shops, pani puri sellers and vendors, the volunteers, led by organisation founder A.G. Anil Kumar, began their campaign on Sunday.
The volunteers visited at least 15 fast-food stalls and other places on Sunday and Monday and distributed the bio-degradable packing materials and cups among the owners of these stalls. Mr. Anil Kumar told The Hindu that he had brought 35,000 of these cups, plates, and packing materials from Karnataka, where these were being manufactured at a small level.
“Each cup or plate costs only a few paise to ₹2, but these cups and plates are palatable for the cattle, and even if these are dumped, they degrade quickly and can be used as manure,” he explained.
“We have not taken donations from anyone and invested our own money to procure these materials. We have asked the Anantapur Municipal Corporation to sponsor manufacture of such items in the city through Self Help Groups so that it becomes a self-sustainable business for women,” he added.
The NGO has also ordered vegetable bags made of white urea packing sacks, which can be used at least 10 times and when discarded, it can be recycled and new ones made for use again.
AMC collects ₹80,000 as penalty
The Anantapur Municipal Corporation has collected ₹80,000 as a penalty from wholesalers, vendors, food stall owners for using single-use plastic as packaging material or for serving food, in 11 days of its campaign.
Municipal Corporation Public Health Officer and In-charge of sanitation in the city Sangam Srinivas told The Hindu that there were 9,000 commercial establishments registered with the AMC and all of them were found to be using this type of plastic.
“We have targeted wholesale dealers, 26 in number, who mainly procure this kind of material from the manufacturers and supply to the users locally,” Mr. Srinivas added. From Monday, we started targeting customers and destroyed plastic cups, and plates at tea kiosks, he said, appealing to the users to not to accept single-use plastic.
A number of hotels are still supplying eatables packed in single-use plastic through the delivery app aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato. Public should bring to our notice should they come across anyone using such plastic, he said.
