Thiruvananthapuram: Total ban on plastic bags from January 26

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The corporation will pitch for a subsidy for cloth and paper bag makers to the state government as the city gets ready for a complete ban on plastic carrybags. Mayor V.K. Prashanth told reporters that the ban will come into effect on January 26. However, traders will be given some more time to sell away the existing stock of plastics, he said.

When asked if there will be alternatives in place, he talked about 30 women who were trained in bag making. These are master trainers who will be able to train more women. The corporation officials claim that in a week the women will be able to train a thousand more women. The have received applications from various Kudumbashree self help groups to start such bag making units.

The quantity of plastic carrybags in circulation is fairly high with close to a lakh traders operating in the corporation. However, officials say that the number of cloth bags that need to be made will be far less, as the bag can be reused for at least six months. They estimate that around 5 lakh bags have to be created. The mayor said that the market will be ready with alternatives even if the Kudumbashree bags are not ready.

The market had made bags with thickness over 51 microns available when plastic bags under 50 microns were banned, he said. When asked why major shops did not use hologram stickers on their plastic carrybags, he said that the shops were not finding the time to stick the stickers. Health standing chairperson K. Sreekumar, in his opening remarks, said that they were conscious that many of the initiatives had not succeeded.