Bengaluru: Cloth bags on rent to eliminate plastic

BENGALURU: Keeping singleuse plastic bags at bay continues to worry civic authorities as they remain in circulation despite a government ban. Members of RR Nagar I Care, a citizen group, have come up with an innovative initiative to nip the use of such plastic bags: They are selling cloth bags at concessional rates to shopowners and vendors who, in turn, rent them out to their customers.
The rental bag scheme is being rolled out in cooperation with BBMP and Tara, an oldage home in RR Nagar.
Priti, a member of RR Nagar I Care, said she and other members of the citizen group have been collecting unwanted clothes from residents, which would otherwise have added to the city’s trash burden. “These socalled waste clothes are being used to get carry bags stitched by inmates of Tara. The recycled bags are given to shopowners and vendors at a nominal cost,” she explained.
Savitha NS, another member, said they’d observed that supermarkets and mall owners are able to buy cloth bags in bulk and give them at a discounted price to customers.
‘“But street vendors and other small players can’t afford that. Hence, we decided to bring them under the rental bag scheme,” she added.
Volunteers from RR Nagar I Care have been trying to dissuade vendors from using banned plastic bags. “Vendors use plastic bags despite the ban due to their helplessness as customers do not get their own bags and expect the vendors to provide them. We sell the bags to vendors at Rs 4 each,” added Savitha.
The vendors have been told to rent these cloth bags to their customers, and not sell them. Vendors collect a nominal deposit from customers, who are required to return the bags later to get back the deposit. “The focus on rent and not sale is to ensure the cycle of one-time use and throw does not continue,” members of the forum said.
Currently, RR Nagar I Care has distributed around 200 bags to vendors.
Inputs from Sehreen Shariff, Shravya Marakini