A majority of the city’s roads, finally rid of the eyesore that is flex and banners, have been transformed giving passers-by a clear view of seasonal flowers and trees.
Until a few days ago, hundreds of flexes and banners dotted the city scape. After a rap from the Karnataka High Court, however, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was able to bring down over 18,000 banners and posters in just two days.
However, civic officials are now sitting on a stockpile of flex and banners, most of which are made of plastic.
A few organisations have approached the BBMP to re-purpose the material into grow bags and carry bags, but the civic body doesn’t appear to be too keen on taking up their offer.
“The BBMP refuses to give us the flex material. Instead, we source them from various events. We stock the material and stitch the carry bags whenever we get an order,” said Venkatraman Iyer, founder of Swabhimaan, an NGO that works with women from the Rajendranagar slum in Ejipura.
Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner (Health and Solid Waste Management), BBMP told The Hindu that the civic body sends the flex material to its processing plants for shredding. This shredded material is sent to boiler units at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh
Waste volunteer Sunil Achar, however, has been able to get his hands on some of the flex material.
“It costs around ₹10 to stitch one bag. The grow bags now available in the market are made from plastic and cost around ₹40 per bag. We can convert the flex material into a low-cost grow bag that can be used for terrace gardening and are a good replacement for cement pots. The cement pots cost around ₹200 and often get damaged by vehicles or are stolen,” said Mr. Achar.
‘Will eventually
reach landfill’
But Mr. Khan reiterated the BBMP’s zero tolerance policy on the use of flex and other forms of banned plastic. “Even if it is re-purposed into grow bags and carry bags, we are only delaying the time it takes to reach the landfill. It will be going to landfills in a different form,” he said.