To strike a balance between their customers and the environment, meat stalls in Gudalur, in the Nilgiris, have decided to use the leaves of the Maranta arundinacea plant, known to indigenous communities in the Nilgiris as koova to pack meat.
Revenue Divisional Officer of Gudalur K.V. Rajkumar told The Hindu that the initiative was backed by District Collector J. Innocent Divya after revenue officials launched a series of raids on meat stalls in the town recently and discovered traders and merchants were using banned, single-use plastics to pack and sell meat.
“The merchants were mistakenly under the impression that plastic bags above 51 microns were allowed to be used for packaging. We first explained to them that this was not the case and imposed heavy fines on them, but they claimed that they had no alternative to plastic bags,” said Mr. Rajkumar.
Following the merchants’ pleas to the revenue department, officials got together with the Nilgiris Adivasi Welfare Association (NAWA), and discussed whether eco-friendly alternatives could be found to package meat at poultry, beef, mutton and fish stalls in Gudalur.
Secretary of NAWA M. Alwas said the leaves from the Maranta plant had traditionally been used to pack food by indigenous communities. Even meat traders had, until a decade ago, used these to pack meat.
“The leaves from the plant can be sustainably harvested and supplied to local traders.
“If it succeeds, we can look at expanding supply to other townships in the Nilgiris, such as Pandalur and Udhagamandalam,” said Mr. Alwas, adding that based on demand, tribal communities can even start growing the plants in their backyard to supply to the market.
Provide livelihood
R Vijaya, NAWA Child Fund Livelihood Co-ordinator, said that as a first step, around 2,000 leaves a day need to be supplied to the markets and meat stalls around Gudalur.
“We will rope in members of tribal communities, mostly women and young adults to grow and supply the leaves, in exchange for a fee,” she said. The initiative would help eliminate plastic usage in the district and also provide livelihood to tribal communities.