City readies to say bye to plastic shopping bags

Thiruvananthapuram: Almost two years after city corporation pitched the production and distribution of cloth bags as an alternative to plastic carry bags, the first decentralised cloth bag manufacturing unit will begin functioning at Valiyavila. The unit to be run by Kudumbashree workers is expected to be inaugurated in the second week of January.
The unit at Valiyavila will be the first among the 10 centres to be set up at different places in the city. The materials will be supplied from a centralised facility at Pongumoodu.

The civic body shall undertake production and distribution of cloth bags and it will be an uphill task for the health wing to gain some ground in the market which is already dominated by private players.

Since corporation imposed ban on plastic carry bags in 2016, many retail chains and super markets had switched to cloth bags and paper bags providing business opportunities for private players.

While cloth bags are now being sold at Rs 15-25, the corporation is expected to bring down the rate to woo the customers. The cloth bags will be initially sold at corporation main office through special sale counter.

The civic body had lost considerable time finalising business model and ideal space to kick start the project. Corporation had decided to introduce 30 lakh paper and cloth bags as an alternative to plastic carry bags in 2017. However, the ruling council and the officials disagreed over the model to be followed while setting up a manufacturing unit.

The health committee had mooted that a training centre at Kumarapuram, which had been shut down for years, could be turned into the manufacturing unit. The officials had also proposed that the unit could be started as a subsidiary of computer training centre. The delay in initiating health and sanitation committee which ought to be monitoring all sanitation drives had also impeded the progress of the project.