Bengaluru: Bags made of cotton, jute and paper, biodegradable and edible cutlery, eco-friendly packaging solutions, paper bag making sessions, plays from student groups spreading awareness about the hazardous results of plastic waste, etc., echoed the message ‘Stop using plastic, Save mother earth’ at Freedom Park. In search of alternatives to eliminate plastic, the eco-friendly fair at FreedomPark has proved that life without plastic can also be convenient and comfortable.
The three-day fair has over 70 stalls, exhibiting alternatives to plastic. By the second day on Friday, the fair had seen thousands of eco-friendly aspirants curious to adopt a sustainable living. The fair will end on Saturday.
Within three years of enforcing the plastic ban, the BBMP has collected Rs 14 crore in penalties and seized over 3 lakh tonnes of plastic. Despite the ban, the BBMP is struggling to make Bengaluru plastic free.
“Bengaluru is the first city which has organised a government-sponsored fair to spread awareness on the use of alternatives to plastic. Vendors and hoteliers have been demanding for alternatives for seized plastic. We wanted to provide a platform to bring the alternative producers to spread awareness. To reduce plastics, people should get alternatives. When alternatives reach people, the use of plastic will hopefully come to an end,” said Dr. Balasundar, Health Officer, BBMP.
Women empowerment through entrepreneurship. While providing alternatives to plastics, the Palike is also promoting women entrepreneurship. “We work with women who are unskilled and have a dire need to earn. By training them in making eco-friendly bags made of cotton, jute and paper, we have been successful in providing a livelihood for the needy women,” said Joyce, a member, NGO Suruchi.
Also, some techies have quit their jobs to contribute to society by setting up an all-woman eco-friendly enterprise. “As an alternative to plastic cutlery and to reduce waste, we decided to produce edible cutlery made of grains and millets. This single-use edible alternative also adds to the nut ritional composition,” said Ms Lakshmi Bheem achar, Co-founder, EdiblePRO.
‘Alternatives only for food on table’
While the event was expected to provide awareness on alternatives to hoteliers and restaurant owners, it didn’t seem to meet its need. “We came here with the expectation of finding solutions but found none. The products exhibited here can only be applicable for serving food on the table, while the city’s food culture largely depends on delivery. Willingness to resort to non-plastics is there from restaurants but there is no solution for our needs,” said Mr Ashish Gupta, member, Restaura nts Association.
A manufacturer who exhibited containers that had 10% plastic was ordered to leave from the event as the product cannot be reused. The activists complained that it defeated the purpose of the event. BBMP ordered the producers to leave the stall.
