New Delhi: This year on June 5, the World Environment Day, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami in the state assembly announced banning use of plastic items, including non-biodegradable bags, from January 2019, number of questions rose among people. Like, what will be used as an alternative to plastic bags, containers, bottles, cups, and other plastic items? What will happen to the plastic items already existing in the market or available with people? Currently, the government and experts might not have an answer and a ready solution for all the questions, but Tamil Nadu Hotels Association has one to do away with the plastic takeaway containers. In a bid to stop the use of plastic food containers and encourage customers to go green, the Tamil Nadu Hotels Association has announced a discount of 5 per cent on the bill if customers bring their own utensils.
Also Read: Plastic Ban In Tamil Nadu: Government Launches Plastic Pollution Free Tamil Nadu Campaign
Talking to NDTV about the green move, R. Srinivasan, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Hotels Association, says,
Hotels and restaurants in Tamil Nadu will also fall under the ban on single use plastic proposed by the state government. Reason being, almost all food items are packed in plastic containers. But to change this habit of both hotels and customers, we passed a resolution on August 14. If customers will bring their own vessels for getting parcel food, they will be able to adopt the plastic ban more easily. Though it will take some time for both customers and hotels to understand the change and adopt it, but in a longer run, it will be of great benefit.
The Tamil Nadu Hotels Association who has initiated ‘bring your own vessel’ kind of move for the betterment of the society and environment is confident about the move and is of the opinion that it will bring in a behavioral change and make individuals more responsible.
We are not inventors or experimenters. We are service providers. We cannot replace single use plastic with something as efficient and handy as plastic, but we can surely use the readily available alternatives- carrier meal, says Mr. Srinivasan.
With this, the association is looking for alternatives for food delivery firms as well. Though nothing has been finalised yet, but instead of plastic, aluminum foils are being used during packaging, banana leaves also come in handy, said an official of the association from Vellore, as quoted by PTI.
Tamil Nadu To Ban Single Use Plastic From January 2019
According to the proposed plans, Tamil Nadu will celebrate New Year with a ban on single use plastic items. The ban is brought under an environment protection act of 1986. From plastic bags, plates, cups, to plastic plastic covers, water packets, and straws, all single use plastic items will reel under the ban. However, plastic sachets used to pack milk, curd and oil, besides those used to wrap medical products, will be exempted from the ban, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said.
PTI quoted the Chief Minister saying,
With the cooperation and contribution of all, let us gift a plastic-free Tamil Nadu for the future generations of the state.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
