Cloth bag manufacturing in bad shape

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In spite of planning to enforce a ban on plastic bags below 50 microns from July 1, the city corporation has not taken efforts to boost cloth bag availability for traders. Its lone cloth bag manufacturing unit at Nedungad do not function anymore, and a plan to have one at Attipra hasn’t taken off. The traders claim that there is a dearth of cheap cloth bags that they can procure from local markets.

Sources at Kudumbashree said the corporation had not got in touch with them to make use of their paper and cloth bag manufacturing unit. A meeting of traders was called, but Kudumbashree was not made a party in any meeting.

“Cloth bag manufacturing unit at Nedungad used to procure cloth from Chalai and make bags. However, the electricity supply to premises was snapped after the property was liquidated. Corporation has trained hundreds of women in the city to make bags. If we make arrangement to procure cloth from Tiruppur cloth bags can be locally manufactured,” said Nedungadu councillor S. Pushpalatha, who was a former health standing committee chairperson.

Presently a cloth bag which is of the same size of a Rs 5 cover cost up to Rs 13. The Kudumbashree officials in the district said that there are two bag manufacturing units at Vellar and one at Kalliyoor, which are not functioning to the optimum level. “Bag units are capable of producing, how much ever order we receive. The issue is there is no interface between traders and us. Corporation could have made use of us and help bring down plastic waste in the city. We will explore the scope of collaboration,” said a Kudumbashree official.