A view of the newly opened outlet for alternative products to ban single-use plastic items on J.N. Street in Puducherry on Thursday. | Photo Credit: S.S. Kumar

In an effort to enforce the ban on single use plastic items more vigorously, Department of Science, Technology and Environment in association with Puducherry Pollution Control Committee on Thursday opened its second outlet, ‘SOLAI’, to provide alternative packaging products near the Old Jail Complex on J.N. Street.

Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan inaugurated the stall in the presence of Minister for Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan, Secretary, Environment, R. Smitha and Senior Environmental Engineer, PPCC, N. Ramesh.

The outlet would sell alternative products such as cloth bags, non-woven bags, paper cups, areca plates, cups made out of bagasse, paper straw, processed banana leaf and manthara leaves at a subsidised rate. The price of products range from ₹1 to ₹10.

The cloth bags would be made available at a subsidised rate at PONLAIT outlet also under the CSR programme.

The government had imposed a ban on single-use plastic items, such as carry bags, cups, plates, thermocol plates, plastic sheet pouches used for wrapping cooked food, plastic sheets used for spreading on the dining table, water pouches and plastic straw in the Union Territory two years ago. The Centre had also imposed a ban on single use plastic items from July 1.

The secretary in a release said more such outlets to sell alternative products would be opened made available. The ban on the plastic items would also be imposed strictly, she added.

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Printable version | Jun 24, 2022 9:01:24 am | https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/puducherry/outlet-selling-alternative-products-for-single-use-plastic-items-opened/article65557314.ece