Kozhikod

Kozhikode Corporation to distribute cloth bags to households

The Kozhikode Municipal Corporation launched its ‘A cloth bag in every home’ project on Friday as part of renewing its fight against single-use plastic. ​​

The corporation had started making efforts to spread the use of cloth bags in the place of plastic carry bags in January itself, but the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted it. “Cloth bag units under the Kudumbashree were forced to switch to mask manufacturing with the sudden spike in demand for them. However, the market was soon flooded with masks and we started preparing for the cloth bag campaign,” said T.K. Prakashan, Kudumbashree Project Officer at the corporation. ​​

Under the project, the civic body will distribute cloth bags to more than 1.25 lakh households in the city at a price of ₹5. “The actual cost of the bags is ₹20, but there is a subsidy of ₹15,” Mr. Prakashan said.​​

The project, besides encouraging the practice of using cloth bags among the public, was also able to provide livelihood to 700 women during the lockdown. Earning ₹5 per bag as stitching cost, the women under the Kudumbashree made more than ₹6.25 lakh under the project. ​​

Meanwhile, they had also manufactured and distributed 1.5 lakh masks during the early stages of the lockdown. ​​

The cloth bags, branded as Fresh Bags, with an all new logo will be distributed in households soon. ​

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